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Running through the quad Danny caught sight of herself in the mirrored glass walls of Tepes Tower and winced at her hair. She fumbled it into a braid that would hide the tangles. It wasn't her best, but she deserved flyaway strands after going out and drinking and, well, not getting a lot of sleep.
The girl had been super hot though. Danny grinned, then winced at her reflection. It looked a little too much like a leer. No leering while at brunch with Laura and her dad. Cute, innocent freshman were not to be trifled with. But that girl had been totally leerworthy. It was too bad she hadn't left her number. Danny had been planning on asking her name, but she slept like a rock after drinking. She wouldn't have woken up if the girl had shaken her until she fell out of bed.
Eh, it wasn't a big campus. She'd probably run into her again. Maybe a second round wouldn't be out of the question.
Danny hurtled out of the stairwell, around the corner, into Laura's dorm corridor, and slam-bang into a body. Together they flew into the wall and Danny threw up her hands to brace herself so as not to crush the half-size person she'd just bowled into. She looked down, into wide eyes and angrily flushed cheeks.
It was the girl she'd just been thinking about.
"Get off me, bigfoot!" the girl snapped.
"Danny!"
Danny stumbled back. Laura and a short, worried-looking man stood a few feet away down the hall. "Dad! This is Danny, my Lit TA. We get pie at the place we're going for breakfast. It's really nice! Danny, this is my dad, and, well," she grinned impishly and gestured to the girl Danny had nearly maimed. "You just met my roommate Carmilla."
Danny turned back to short (though not as short as Laura) dark and angry and tried to smile. So she had a name to go with the sex. That was . . . good.
Carmilla wasn't trying to smile. She was glaring at Danny with the force of a Siberian winter, and Danny shivered under its windy blast. A quick flick of eyes and an arch of an eyebrow and Danny got it.
"Hey," Danny said, sticking out her hand. "Nice to meet you. Sorry about throwing you into the wall." Then she turned to Laura's dad. "Great to meet you too, sir."
#The Night Before#
Danny's posse was the worst.
"You haven't gotten laid in ages." Elsie prodded her in the side. "And you're hung up on that freshman."
"I'm not hung up on Laura!" Danny protested. "We're friends. She's cute, but, I dunno, too cute, maybe?"
Elsie nodded sagely. "She's a fluffy bunny. We like to pet fluffy bunnies. We do not fuck fluffy bunnies." Then she wiggled her eyebrows. "Well, you don't."
"Elsie . . ."
"Hold that thought!" Elsie darted off into the crowd of college-age bar-goers. First Thursday of the month was gay night. So any girls here were likely at least open to the idea of girl-action. But bars were hard. It was too loud to hear much, and hooking up with someone she hadn't even spoken to was not her style. Danny forced her way to the bar and used her height to flag down a drink.
When she made it back to her table, Elsie had returned with a girl in tow. She was cute, as far as Danny could tell in the bar lighting, make-up dramatic and a bit gothy, dark hair, nice boots. She was half leaning on Elsie in a way Danny suspected was meant to look seductive. Elsie made eye contact and gestured towards the girl with emphasis that Danny could only read as, "I shagged her and she was great. Your turn."
Danny, as subtly and as fiercely as possible, shook her head. No way. Random hook ups were not her thing, and five stars from Elsie just made it worse. Elsie rolled her eyes. She pushed the girl off her shoulder and towards Danny.
"You guys should dance!"
The girl looked up, and then further up at Danny and made a face.
"Sorry, cutie. Giants aren't my type."
Danny bristled. "And sloppy seconds aren't mine. Don't help, Elise." She turned, but as she did, the girl stuck a finger into her chest. Danny's gaze caught on narrowed eyes.
"You think you could do better?"
Danny caught her hand and pushed it down. The girl took it back and crossed her arms. "Better is subjective," Danny said, not wanting to pick a fight. "But as a subjective human, yeah."
"I'm glad you restricted that, because objectively, I'm as good as it gets."
It was so perfect a response that Danny had to fight a grin. "I thought you'd say that. From your subjective point of view."
At this point, though Danny didn't take note of it, Elsie rolled her eyes and wandered off.
"Problem is," Danny continued. "If you're you're own perfect type, then you'll always be disappointed."
The girl pressed her lips together, and raised an ironic eyebrow. "I'm willing to lower my standards for a good fuck."
Danny took a sip of her drink and leaned forward. "You know. I think there's a problem here. You kind of strike me as a hipster. But the sort of hipster that thinks hipster stuff is BS. If your type was really yourself, pale imitations of you would piss yourself off so much that you'd never get laid."
This time the girl laughed. "Insightful. Think you can guess my type? I'd say you . . . you're a jock. Jocks get with other jocks. But you're nerdy, hmm." The girl turned around to face the crowd. "I think you'd go for girls like . . . that."
She pointed to a girl holding forth to a crowd of other girls, waving her hand as she lectured. She was tallish, brunette, sharp featured. Danny winced. She'd been in her one and only philosophy class. They'd studied together, gone for long runs on the trails, hooked up, dated a couple times, and then broken up when she realized that Danny didn't really understand the intricacies of modal logic. Danny had avoided philosophy majors ever since.
"I wouldn't say horribly arrogant is my type. My error maybe."
The girl started to laugh hard. "I got an ex? Oh mannn. But yeah, she's terrible. I'm sorry that you dated her at all."
"You know her?"
The girl shrugged. "Same department."
"Great." Danny shook her head. "You'll be happy to know I have written off all philosophers ever."
The girl gave her an amused look. "We're not all bad."
"Yes, you are. You're philosophers."
The girl let out a sigh and leaned back against the table, taking a sip of her drink. "Honestly, you're not wrong. Now, I got you -- smart and sporty--, so what's my type?"
Danny looked at her hard. The biker goth was too soft to be a teenage rebellion. It was just who she was. She looked older than the other students -- not physically, but in her responses. She didn't really peg like a grad student either though. Returning student? Had enough of real life, back to school? Seemed possible.
Danny glanced out over the swarm of kids. There was no one mature here, really, no one she thought this girl would consider an equal. But would she look for an equal? She liked to play the seductress, it seemed. Elsie was fun and cute, and she'd hit that. But somehow fun didn't seem like this girl's type. Danny pictured her as a tragic heroine in a novel, facing her losses and seeking out the pure sweetness that reminded her of how she had once been.
"Oh," Danny said, "your type is yourself."
The girl stared at her. "What?"
Danny turned back to the girls and scanned them. There, a short blonde girl in a pale dress, looking shy and a little uncomfortable being at this bar. She pointed. "Shrinking violet over there."
The girl followed her point and then jerked her head back to stare at Danny. "How'd you--"
"I'm right?" Danny grinned and threw up her hands, making tiny dance moves. "I'm just that awesome."
The girl rolled her eyes so hard she could have sprained them. "You're an idiot."
"An awesome one."
"I'm not talking to you anymore."
Danny laughed. "Fine. But I guessed. You owe me a dance."
The girl huffed and tipped her head back with another eye roll. "Whatever." But she sidled up and planted her hands on Danny's hips. "You're the worst."
Danny leaned down and snapped at her nose with her teeth. The girl's hands came up swiftly, fisting in her hair, and jerking her down. A moment, hovering there, mouths half an inch apart, hot breath burning Danny's skin.
The kiss, when the girl finally sealed their lips together, was a challenge. Danny took it, cupping the girl's ass and hosting her up so she wouldn't have to stretch so much to kiss her. Her knees gripped Danny's hips, and she pulled back, breaking the kiss and then leaning in, tongue flickering like a snake across parted lips. She ducked back in and bit, tugging Danny's lower lip between her teeth. Danny dragged her nails around the curve of the girl's shoulder blades. She arched into her, and then leaned in for another rough, sweet kiss.
"I didn't think you liked smart girls," Danny murmured into her ear.
The girl pushed at her shoulders and slid down her body to land on her feet. "It's a kink. I try to keep it on the down low. Got a roommate?"
"No."
"Awesome."
#
It took ten minutes at breakfast with Carmilla, Laura, and Laura's Dad for Danny to realize that there was a dynamic here. Carmilla, scowling into her black coffee, ignored Danny completely, Laura's dad mostly, and answered Laura with the most ironic of pet names.
"Yes, I'm sure I don't want any of your sugar drenched sugar, cupcake."
Cupcake? Danny mouthed to herself, and then, inadvertently met Laura's dad's eyes. His expression was just as horrified. He looked like the sort of dad who would have been relieved when he found out that his daughter was a lesbian, hoping it would mean the rebellious bad-boy boyfriend stage was going to be a non-starter. Poor guy.
"So, um, Mr. Hollis, what do you do?" Danny tugged up her collar and gave her best smile, hoping that Carmilla hadn't left any marks high up enough on her neck to be seen. This was really the best sort of brunch. Your last night's hook-up, your hook-up's crush, who was also your friend, and her crush's dad, all together. How could it be funner?
#
"Oh good," the girl said, pushing into Danny's room. "You have books. I don't screw girls who don't have books."
Her room was a bit of a flood of books. "Most people notice the bed first."
The girl grinned. "I suppose a double is a blessed relief after unrelenting dorm room extra long singles."
"I like girls who notice books first, though."
The girl sidled up and laced her fingers through Danny's hair. "I'm sure we disagree on nearly everything."
"More fun to discuss then," Danny said, and kissed her. It would be easy to get obsessed with her mouth, Danny thought. There was nothing soft about it, hard and sharp and intense, but tasting sweet and a little bitter. Danny backed her up until the backs of the girl's knees hit the bed and they tumbled onto it.
"Gah, don't crush me, Hagrid."
Danny hoisted herself up and gave her a grin that she knew was kind of dashing. "Make it up to you?"
"You'd better."
Danny pressed a light peck to her grimace, and then settled back onto her hips. She shucked off her shirt, and enjoyed the way the girl's lips parted, eyes glazing over. Danny let her fingertips run over her cheek and her neck and down her cleavage. She had a scar on the top of her left breast. Danny didn't ask, but added it to the equation. "What do you like?"
"Honestly?" The girl smirked. "I fuck so many cute girls who need to be shown the ropes that I'm not sure I can remember. But someone like you--I want you on your knees."
Danny grinned and leaned over her, bending down to undo the buttons on her shirt with her mouth. "Do you want me to get down there on my own, or do you want to put me there?"
The girl's hips bucked into hers, and her hands fisted into her hair. "I really hate you," she growled, and jerked Danny up into a rough kiss, smashing their teeth together. Danny tasted blood on the inside of her mouth and loved it.
#
Laura was going back and forth between smiling hopefully at Danny and then smiling hopefully at Carmilla, telling her dad college anecdotes, and eating more sugar than any one person should actually ingest.
Danny just wished this was over.
"So, you're a graduate student?" asked Laura's dad.
"Yes, second year, in literature."
"What are you studying?"
"I'm interested in early speculative fiction and horror."
Carmilla made a noise like a muffled groan.
Danny looked over. "Yes?" she inquired.
Rolling her eyes, Carmilla made a dismissive gesture with a forkful of liver and onions. "Isn't that overstudied? If one more thesis gets written on the feminist impulse of the Castle of Otranto and the origins of horror--"
"I really don't think the Castle of Otranto has a feminist impulse." Danny made a face. "And, I know I said early, but origins have never really interested me. I think you can't ever really say 'this was the start of this,' because that's not how the zeitgeist works. There has to be enough stirring in the air of the time to set off a wave effect. And since we have a hard enough time figuring out what causes waves in eras we've lived through, everything we say about the past is doubly suspicious."
Carmilla leaned forward, expression shifting from irritated to intent. "You don't think a single drop in the bucket can send out ripples?"
"It can, but unless the ripples intersect with something else, they just die."
"What about the Robinsonade?"
Danny grinned. She liked a challenge. She also liked girls who were well read enough to keep up in her area of knowledge. "Well, then we get the question of popularity and sales and homage, right? Adventure novels were already popular, but that one hit the top, and then we have the imitators."
"Why did it hit the top?"
"Beats me. It was the worst thing I've read in years."
Carmilla huffed. "Ingrate. Modern people have no patience for the goals of nineteenth century classics."
"Certain modern people aren't interested in what an overprivileged white man thinks it would be like to construct a primitive bowl."
"Um," cut in Laura. "What are you two even talking about?"
Danny looked over. Laura and her father were watching with bemusement. Carmilla hunched her shoulders and stabbed at her liver and onions, her face looked a little red.
Suddenly uncomfortable, Danny grabbed her orange juice and forced a smile. "Sorry. When the word zeitgeist pops out in the first sentence, it's probably not a beginner friendly conversation."
#
"Oh fuck, fucking stop." The girl grasped her hair and pulled her back. "I think you killed me."
Danny pressed her come-slick mouth against the inside of her leg. The girl gave a rattling sort of gasp and slumped back onto the bed.
"Get up here, Clifford."
Danny crawled up onto the bed and stretched out next to her. Like a limpet, the girl curled naked into her. She made a soft pained sound as she tried to close her legs, and left them open. She sniffed, and leaned in, tongue extended, licking herself off of Danny's face like a cat. She finished it with a wet, open-mouth kiss.
"Fuck you for being so good at this," she muttered. Her hands pawed up Danny's arms, curling around her biceps, and rubbing her thumbs along the lines of definition.
"I practice."
"Asshole." The girl pressed even more firmly into her, then started walking her fingers down the curve of Danny's spine. "Fucking sexy asshole, you are."
Nails scratched across Danny's ass, and she couldn't help but grind heavily into the girl's thigh.
The girl made a purring sound in Danny's ear. "I'm gonna get you back."
"Yeah?" it came out more breathy than Danny intended. "How?"
"I'm not going to touch you there. I'm just going to . . . " Her fingers started to walk again, meandering, arrhythmic, eating up her skin, light enough to be halfway between a tickle and a caress. Pinch, cat scratch, bite. Each hit was too much, all sensation, and Danny gave in, gave herself up to it, until a stroke across the back of her knee had her buckling and coming, melting into a puddle against the girl's hip.
#
"They're both lit nerds," Laura said, grinning happily at her dad. "I knew they'd get along."
"And how," Danny muttered under her breath, trying not to think too hard about her brunch companion naked. But compartmentalizing wasn't really one of her strong suits, especially when the girl was glaring at her plate with an expression of impending murder. She got it, really. Carmilla was clearly someone who did compartmentalize well. She kept her hookups separate from her crushes. And bang, here they were in one room, making conversation.
But that was an interesting question in and of itself. Did she ever let them cross over? Did she ever make a move to turn a crush into a girlfriend? Did she ever want more from a hookup?
"I'm going to the bathroom." Carmilla stood up and strode away, her face never losing the look of half rage and thorough control.
Danny waited, holding herself back for nearly a whole minute, and then touched her pocket. "Oops, that's my phone, be back in a sec." And she took off after Carmilla to the bathroom.
#
Danny burst through the bathroom door, and Carmilla grabbed her by the shirt and had shoved her into the sinks before she could even register her presence.
"You need to stop."
"Stop what?"
Black eyes and death gazes should not be this arousing.
"You need to stop looking at me, and you need to stop muttering things under your breath."
"Hey," Danny said, letting her voice go soft. "It's cool. I'm not going to let on. I know you like her."
It was an unpleasant thing to face, but Danny was grown up enough to know how not to be a sore loser.
"What?" Carmilla dropped her and stepped back, her face confused but her back bristling like a nervous cat.
"Laura's cute. I had a thing for her too for a while. I'm not going to humiliate you in front of her by talking up how much sex we had last night."
"I don't have a--" Carmilla huffed in annoyance. "You're insufferable."
"Because I'm right again?"
Carmilla glared.
Danny grinned and hoisted herself up to sit on the sink. She liked this angry, irritable girl. And that was completely outside of how good she was in bed. "Tell me though, are you going to go for it?"
"Are you going to tell me I shouldn't? That I'm no good for her? That I'll just ruin her and corrupt her and turn her into someone like me?"
Danny's fingers curled around the porcelain. She didn't like the look on Carmilla's face. "No, actually," she said. She kept her voice steady and calm. This felt a little like walking through a minefield. "But now I'm kind of wondering if that's what you think?"
"She deserves someone better than me." Carmilla glared. "Not you. You're just as bad. But I'm poison."
Danny hesitated for a moment. "I disagree. I think you'd have a lot to offer her."
Carmilla shook her head. "I hurt girls like her. I have before, I will again."
In the same way that Carmilla had been hurt? "Couldn't she be different?"
"She'll grow up regardless." Carmilla looked away, something hurt in her eyes.
She is your type to a T, isn't she."
Carmilla shrugged. "Perhaps a little more spunky than usual."
"Sometimes it's good to get pulled out of your comfort zone."
"She's not far enough out of it for me to be unable to see how it will go." Carmilla shrugged. "And she's my roommate. Hooking up with no interest in more is inconsiderate."
"Never took you for polite." Danny slid off the sink. Carmilla looked like she needed a hug, but also that anyone who tried was likely to get shanked. "There are other options." There were lots of girls in the world. Not all of them were Carmilla's personal shadows. Opening up to that could start an important process, maybe one of healing.
Carmilla narrowed her eyes. "You're not putting yourself on the table, are you? Because another night with your mouth and your toys is one thing, dating Clifford the Big Red Dyke is quite another."
Danny hadn't quite gotten around to thinking about that. "You're not my type either, daughter of darkness." But thinking about it, it wasn't a bad thing.
Carmilla rolled her eyes. "Yes, I am."
They seemed to have segued into banter again. A hint of hope trickled up Danny's spine. "Smart, I'll give you, though I have my suspicions about philosophy majors. But sporty?"
Carmilla lifted her chin and shrugged. "I'll admit that I am not a team player. But I have been known to play a spirited round of croquet."
Danny laughed, a big good-natured burst of it. "Well, then! I'll have to challenge you to a match!"
"You're on," Carmilla grinned, all teeth. Then she pursed her lips. "Not a date."
Danny raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, I think playing croquet on a first date would be just a little embarrassing. We'll have to think of something else."
Carmilla nodded, then frowned. "When did I agree to date you?"
"Just then, I think." Danny smiled. "Why not? Scared to go outside your type?"
"No."
"Sometimes it's good to break out of the rut."
Carmilla scowled. "I'm not in a rut."
Danny took a step closer to her. "Going after girls you don't want to ruin, but not thinking you can do anything else? Sounds like a rut to me. Give us a shot. You're not going to ruin me."
Carmilla stared at her, her face impassive. Then she frowned. "How do you do that? Are you studying to be a therapist or something?"
Danny grinned, shaking her head. "I hate listening to other people's problems. And they never take my advice, even when it's clearly right. Nah, I'm a lit girl. I just figure out your story. And you're tragic heroine 100%."
Carmilla rolled her eyes hard. "God, what am I getting myself into."
Danny reached out and cupped her cool cheek. "Nothing serious," she said. "Maybe a good time?"
She leaned in, hovering close, watching Carmilla's eyes flick from hers to her mouth and back again. A flash of determination crossed her face, and then she covered the distance in an instant, nipped at her lip, and then went for the kiss. Danny let her fingers lace through dark curls, and gave as good as she got.
#
Heat built again, mouths clashing as if it were a duel, hands moving over skin, bodies shifting, one on top and then another. Danny, half sprawled over the girl, reached out and snagged the drawer to the bedside table. It stuck, she gave a jerk, and it skidded out. A pile of sex-toys, prophylactics, lube, and a few awkward paperbacks fell on the floor. The girl rolled over, looking at the tumble, and then looking at Danny with a suspicious and yet not unimpressed expression.
"You're prepared."
Danny ignored her and scrabbled in the mess. She grabbed something. "Okay. That's what I was looking for."
The girl's eyes widened. "Oh. Okay." Bodies sealed together again and didn't bother separating for a long time.
#
Back at the table, Laura looked at them, and then her eyes widened. "Oh my god!" She clapped her hands. "You totally hooked up! Elsie got you guys to hook up last night! Yes!"
Danny and Carmilla's eyes met, seeing only mirrored surprise. They hadn't even been touching.
"We knew you'd be awesome for each other!" Laura turned to her dad and squeezed his arm. "This was supposed to be the second push if they didn't click last night. But they're totally together now, you can tell by how they're sitting." For a moment, Laura's dad looked broadly relieved. "And you need to meet Elsie." Laura's cheeks darkened slightly. "She's really cool."
Danny sighed, letting herself be amused by the situation. She reached out and looped her arm around Carmilla's shoulders, tugging her close. Carmilla flashed her a dirty look.
"Busy after this?" Danny murmured. "Cause I was thinking we could hang out at mine and insult movie adaptations of classic novels."
"Is that a euphemism?"
"Not really."
One side of Carmilla's mouth curled up and she gave a slight nod. "Okay. Sounds good."
"Awesome."
###