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Amity chewed thoughtfully on her quill pen. Luz would be fine. She was always fine. Everything was fine.
She reached for a new scroll of parchment but her hand froze in mid-air. She didn’t want to be a burden. Luz was going through a lot. It was ridiculous to expect her to take time for Amity.
But still…
Dear Luz…
The quill drifted lazily across the paper, hovering beneath the two words. Amity considered what to say.
I hope that you are doing well.
Is everything okay?
I miss you.
“GAH!” Amity screamed, ripping up the parchment. “She doesn’t care, you idiot! Just leave her alone!”
Footsteps sounded from down the hall. Amity rushed to hide the shreds of paper blanketing her bed.
“Everything okay in here, Mittens?” Edric’s voice was muffled through her door.
“It’s fine,” she called back, wincing.
The door creaked open. Edric rocked back and forth on the balls of his feet, a curious look in his golden eyes.
“Sure about that?” He took a tentative step into her room.
“Get out!”
“Who is ‘she’?”
“Edric!” Amity’s voice cracked. Tears streamed unbidden down her burning cheeks. She rested her head in her hands and gave in as her chest was wracked with sobs. Distantly she processed Edric’s approach and his arms wrapping protectively around her. She buried her face in his shoulder.
Edric stroked her hair soothingly and cooed at her until she was more coherent.
“There, there, Mittens. Do you need to talk about it?”
Amity considered a few moments before nodding into his shoulder. He gently laid her back onto her bed and sat down at the foot of it.
The room was silent.
“So…?” Edric prompted.
Amity stared at the ceiling. Her eyes burned and she felt an uncomfortable knot forming in her stomach.
“It’s… Well…” She found that the words didn’t want to come out. They caught in her throat and swirled through her mind but fell to ash when they reached her tongue. She screwed her eyes shut. “Have you ever had a crush before?”
“A few. Why?” Edric chuckled.
Amity looked up at him. His smile seemed genuine, though that wasn’t a trustworthy indicator. “How do you...” she paused, searching for the right phrasing, “How do you get over it?”
Edric blinked at her in surprise. “That bad, eh?”
“I just don’t know what to do,” she gushed. “It started as this little flutter whenever she was around but now she’s all I think about! But I know, I just know she’ll never see me as more than a friend. And that’s okay! Of course it’s okay, I mean it’s more than okay. It’s great being her friend. But I don’t want to ruin things or make her uncomfortable and I really don’t want to pressure her. I just don’t know what to do.”
A knowing look passed over Edric’s face. Amity tensed.
“What did she say when she rejected you?”
Amity quickly shook her head, her teal hair swinging into her face. “No, no, no. It wasn’t like that, exactly. She, uh, she asked me to Grom but-”
“She asked you to Grom?” A corner of Edric’s mouth quirked upward.
“As a friend!”
“Uh huh.” The taller witch’s mouth quivered mischievously.
“And then when we danced-”
“You danced ?” Edric’s eyebrows looked like they were about to float off of his face. He snickered.
“It isn’t funny!” Amity shrieked, picking up her pillow and throwing it at her older brother. He caught it good naturedly.
“You’re hopeless, Mittens,” he crooned. “Next you’re going to tell me she carried you bridal style after you broke your leg.”
Amity blushed.
“Mittens!” Edric crowed.
“Shut up,” Amity grumbled, trying to ignore the butterflies swarming in her stomach. She leaned back into her pillows and swallowed, giving into the familiar melancholy of insecurity. “Please, Ed, just tell me how to get over her. I’m tired of feeling like this.”
Edric leaned his head to the side thoughtfully. He rested a comforting hand on her unbroken leg.
“If you asked me,” he began honestly, “I’d say you should give it a shot.”
Amity shrank further into her pillows.
“Seriously. If she says yes then your problem is solved, and if she says no you can deal with the rejection. It’s easier than all this,” he gestured to the scraps of paper still visible on the floor.
Amity sighed deeply. “You’re probably right.”
“Of course I am,” Edric smiled warmly and patted her leg once more. “Hey, mom told me to ask what you wanted for dinner tonight. The cooks are off so we’re ordering out.”
Amity raised an eyebrow. “Pizza?”
Edric chuckled.
“Sounds great to me.” He pushed himself off of the bed and into a standing position. "See ya, Mittens."
Amity watched him exit the room, shutting her door behind him. She pulled a new sheet of parchment from her desk. Heart racing, she brought her quill to the paper once again.
Dear Luz...