Chapter Text
Luz
“Well that was weird.” King said casually, jumping into my lap to grab some chips from the bag.
“Wha—what?” I stuttered, not realizing that he had woken up.
“Yeah,” he said, munching on a chip, crumbs falling into my lap, “You two were sitting like right next to each other. I didn’t know that human faces could go that red!” he shrugged, reaching for another paw-full of chips.
“I…Wait my face was red?” I asked.
“As a tomato, whatever that is.” King said, half paying attention.
A billion thoughts raced through my head. If I was red, then Amity was sure to have seen it. But then Amity was also blushing, and she had said that stupid thing about being beautiful. But then of course she had immediately run away, so there was that too.
King’s attention had shifted from me, and he grabbed a final handful of chips, jumping off of my lap to return to the kitchen. I was still frozen in my spot, the whole ordeal replaying endlessly in my head.
All I could think about for the rest of the night was Amity.
Lately all of my thoughts had been about Amity, but I had just thought that maybe I just wanted to be her friend. Ever since I had first seen her, that was all I could think about. Maybe I should have realized it then, but only now was it dawning on me that I might like her. Like her, like her.
Back on earth I had figured out that just liking guys wasn’t all my thing. My thing was cute anime girls and stupid idiot men with skinny arms and black hair. My thing was the soft boys with freckles and cute girls(all girls), and I was totally aware and okay with that. I had even come out to my mom a few months ago, but I’m pretty sure that she already knew—she must have caught me crushing over everyone in my favorite T.V. shows.
But this thing with Amity was different. It had started when we were still enemies, before the whole fight at the Covention, when I kept catching her looking at me funny. Back then I thought it was just because I was human, but it didn’t stop my mind from replaying her face over and over when I was trying to go to sleep. Could she possibly be thinking the same things about me that I was about her? The thought alone seemed impossible.
I didn’t even consider what I was feeling to be a crush until this evening, sitting on the couch while her face hung a few inches from mine. The whole time I couldn’t help but stare at her, the way her head was subconsciously bopping to the music, the way her eyes lit up, and then the way she was looking right back at me, almost like we were both thinking the same thing.
And then she called me beautiful and I forgot how to breathe.
I literally couldn’t stop replaying the moment over and over in my head since it had happened. Rather she didn’t directly call me beautiful, but between the way she was looking at me and the way she had said it, I was sure she had meant the compliment.
As much as I wanted to keep thinking about how I had been this close to sweeping in and kissing her, I needed to go to sleep. School was fun, but only on a few good hours of sleep, and I had just been wasting them overthinking.
Still I couldn’t help but wonder if she was up late too, thinking about me.
……………
For the rest of the week I couldn’t focus on anything but Amity. I had tried everything at this point, but no amount of distractions could stop me from fantasizing about her green hair and how much I wanted to feel its softness in my hands. It didn’t help that Amity kept shooting me looks when she thought I wasn’t watching, and at this point the whole avoiding each other thing was driving me crazy.
Neither of us made any move either, that was the issue. Every time we would sit next to each other during the one shared class we had together, Abominations, the closest we would get to talking was me asking for the homework and other stupid things.
Even Willow and Gus had picked up that something was wrong, and us decided to bring it up while we were eating lunch later that week.
“Okay, I’ve had enough. Why are we avoiding Amity now? Did something happen at your house when we left?” he asked, and I dropped my sandwich in alarm.
“Um, no, what??? Nothing is up with Amity and I, no, totally good!” I squealed out.
“Yeah,” Gus said, “I believe that.”
Willow put her hand on Gus’s arm.
“Don't pressure her! When she's ready to tell us, she will.”
“Yeah,” Gus continued, “But she's our best friend, and best friends tell other best friends why they’re avoiding the girl who seems to have a crush on her.”
“Wait, what?” I half screamed, and quite a few eyes shot up to me in the cafeteria. “Oops, I meant wait what?” my voice lowered.
Gus and Willow exchanged looks.
“You mean, you didn’t notice?” Willow asked in a calm tone.
“That Amity likes me? I mean I, maybe, but I thought I might be making it up in my head!”
Gus sighed, “You know Luz, for such a smart person, I thought that maybe you’d be more perceptive.”
“Hey!” I protested, “I am plenty perceptive!”
“So, you didn’t suspect anything at Grom?” he pressed.
“You mean how we defeated Grom together or?”
“I mean how Amity acted around you before it, and how she kept carrying around that note whenever you were around.”
“I just thought she was always holding that!”
“She wasn’t.” Willow interjected, “And I agree with Gus on this one, Amity definitely has a thing for you. So then why are you avoiding her?”
“Hey, I thought we weren’t going to pressure Luz to tell us anything!” Gus protested, and Willow gave him a small push.
“Well that was back when I wasn’t totally invested, but now I kind of want to know!”
They both turned to look at me with expectant faces and I swallowed dryly.
I hadn’t actually said it out loud yet, and somehow, I felt that if I did, then I might have to act on those feelings. But now that I knew that there was at least a 60% chance of her liking me back, some of that fear dissipated.
“I—I think I might have a crush on Amity.” I confessed in a whispered tone, making sure that no one else could hear.
While Willow and Gus processed the information, I watched as Amity walked into the cafeteria with principal Bump, deep in conversation. For a moment she looked up and scanned the cafeteria for something. When her eyes landed on me, her face got red and her eyes went really wide.
How had I not noticed any of this before? Was she always looking at me this way?
“You…You like Amity…” Gus said slowly, the gears in his head still turning. “Do you know what this means?”
“Um, no.” I replied, tearing my eyes away from the girl with green hair.
“It means,” Gus said, getting excited, “that you totally need to ask her out!”
A series of emotions flashed though me, and I felt my face go red hot.
“I—I can't just do that!” I protested.
“Why not?” Willow asked.
“Because, because she bullied you! And because we only just became friends and what if I ruin it? And, and I don't know, I’ve never asked someone out before!”
Willow gave me a tired look.
“Look Luz, I am going to be okay if you ask Amity out, what happened between us is in the past. Plus, you’re Luz Noceda, human learning magic, the only person to learn all types of magic! What’s the worst that could happen, she says no?!”
“Exactly! Yes, she could say no!”
“True,” Willow said, “But you wouldn’t know unless you asked her.”
Gus gave Willow an impressed look.
“You’re really good at pressuring people for someone who told me not to pressure someone.” He said, and Willow rolled her eyes.
“Alright Gus, next time we can both harass Luz.”
“Yes!” he pumped his fist in the air, and I let out a sigh.
“You two are impossible.”
“But you love us!” Gus replied in a sing-song voice.
“Yeah, I love you.” I smiled, “And I guess I have a girl to ask out then.”
“You got this Luz!” Willow exclaimed, and a little more of my anxiety melted away.
What could go wrong?
……………..
I didn’t get to talk to Amity during lunch, and not even later that day at Abominations. She had become a master of evasion, and every time I went to try and talk to her, she was busy doing work or halfway across the room already.
I had just about given up, but then, almost like an act of god, she walked right into me on her way to her locker.
“Watch where you’re—” she started, reminding me of a few weeks ago when almost the exact same thing had happened, “Oh! Luz, I’m so sorry. I’ll just be going now!”
“Wait,” I reached out an arm and held her hand for a moment.
She didn’t pull away.
“Yeah?” her expression was unreadable, but I think that might have just been the obnoxious thumping in my chest.
“I, um,” my mouth had gone dry, “I was wondering if you wanted to come over after school today? I, uh, Eda and King are out running errands and I wanted to show you some more music.”
My heart was beating about a billion miles an hour, and I watched as Amity became flustered.
“Also, um, you look really pretty today.” I said, then immediately ducked my head when a blush took over my cheeks.
From somewhere behind us I heard Emira yell out “Just kiss already!” and Amity’s blush deepened.
“I…I would like that very much.” She finally said, smiling like I had just made her day.
“Cool!” I flashed her finger guns, then mentally face palmed for doing the finger guns.
She giggled which made the whole thing worth it.
“Um, meet me at the Owl House in like an hour?” I asked, still feeling like she could say no at any moment.
“Sure.” She replied brightly, and I couldn’t help but look back up into her eyes.
She caught my gaze and I got the intense urge to kiss her. But I wasn’t about to make my first kiss happen in the school hallway, so I ducked my head and started to walk out the door.
“Bye Amity!” I yelled, ducking as an upperclassman walked by, hand almost hitting my head. “See you soon!”
Then before I could look back and get flustered, I ran out the door and tried not to think about how fast my heart was beating. She had said yes! Amity was coming over to my house, alone, to listen to music with me.
AMITY WAS COMING OVER TO MY HOUSE TO LISTEN TO MUSIC WITH ME! Oh, no! I needed to clean, and get ready, and oh my god there’s so much to do!
I needed to get home, and I needed to get ready soon. I only had an hour.