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“Luz, we can’t go out in the rain. It will BOIL us.”
Amity was on day 3 of staying with Luz in the human realm. What had been planned as a 1 day visit had somehow spiraled into a 1 week excursion . And though neither Amity, Luz, or even Camilla minded such a long visit, Amity was still having some trouble adjusting to Earth.
“Amity, I promise , the rain on Earth doesn’t boil people. Usually.” Luz said, her hair held back by a headband as she moved to the door. “I promise!” Luz pressed, carrying a strange item in her hand, smiling back at Amity. “There’s no thunder, no lightning, it’s just gonna be rain and wind. It’s awesome , I promise.”
Amity shook her head and sighed, unable to say no to that face. “ Fine, I trust you. But if I get burned-”
“Amity, you’re not gonna get burned.” Luz said, reaching out her hand and taking Amity’s, before pulling her out of the door. She then began to manipulate the strange object in her hand.
“What is that?” Amity asked, “Does it control the rain?”
Luz giggled, “No, no...it’s just a speaker for my phone.” She smiled, removing the headband and placing it on the railing of the back porch. Rain was falling, and the wind was pushing it to come down at a slant. The sky was a dark gray, dulling the world around it, as rain poured endlessly. Amity could tell it wasn’t boiling, despite the steam coming off the roof of a nearby house.
“Do you usually do this?” Amity asked, noticing Luz on her phone.
Luz nodded, “Mama and I did this when I was younger. We’d just moved here, away from my dad. It wasn’t, like...the same as this, that’d be weird. Usually it was just running around in circles. ” She said. “She doesn’t do it anymore, but as long as I make sure my clothes get in the drier, she’s fine with it.” Luz smiled, going through her phone. “Oh, oh! Found one…” She pressed something on her phone and laid it on the banister, before grabbing the speaker and running out in the rain.
Luz placed the small speaker on the ground, before looking back at Amity. “Hit the play button and come on!”
Though Amity could tell Luz wasn’t being burnt, she still had her doubts...couldn’t this end poorly? They were in the middle of nowhere, Camilla wasn’t even at the house, but still. Things like this almost always had some ulterior thing going on.
“The rain’s perfect, Amity, come on!” Luz’s black t-shirt was already soaking wet, and the wind was whipping her hair around. Luz, though, was still smiling wide, waiting by the speaker. “I’m not gonna wait here forever, I don’t want the rain to die down!”
Reluctantly, Amity pressed the play button on Luz’s phone, and went down the stairs as the music started playing on the speaker.
When Luz and Amity had danced at Grom, it had been somewhat planned. The choreography was a little stiff, but only because they were trying to defeat a monster. Amity had said, both before and after, that dancing wasn’t her thing. Luz, as well, said that fancy dances weren’t her bag either, and that she preferred the kind of things she’d get up to at concerts.
It was a surprise to Amity, then, to see Luz...dancing? It had to be dancing. She was moving in time with the music, jumping, twirling, waving her arms, but it was nowhere near the stuffy ballroom dancing Amity had been forced to learn as a child. This was almost an expression of something. Of some emotion that Amity couldn’t place. Amity stood still, letting the rain soak through her gray tanktop, and mat her hair to her temples and cheeks.
When the music died down, so did Luz, taking both of Amity’s hands and huffing as she caught her breath. She looked to Amity, who was having some trouble with eye contact, especially now…
Inside your room there's 40 few
Remaining figures of new moons
To curve around your axle heart
In hopes that something new will start.
They're winding down, they're closing ranks
To rest another 30 days.
You lay and watch them wax and glow.
You hold them in your hand and let them go.
Amity gasped as Luz took her and twirled her, moving her own legs quickly and bobbing her head to the music as it picked up once more. She pulled Amity close, and smiled, speaking into her ear, “Come on, no one’s watching! Just dance!” She said, letting go of one hand and pulling away, still bobbing, but beckoning Amity to take the lead for her.
A kid half my age, baby's breath and meadow sage
Clutched in her hands like trophy game,
Just like the wild world was tame,
Was granted home and tender care
Into an awkward piece of ware
Three-quarters full or quarter-drained
And both adversely sure how long they will sustain.
Now, Amity didn’t know why, but seeing Luz, eyes wide open, smile filling her face, soaked through with rain with legs covered in mud? To Amity, that made all of this sort of make sense. She huffed, her head beginning to sway, her long hair in the way of her face, as she began to dance. Not fancy, not graceful, but wild and alive. Waving her arms, stomping her feet, jumping up and down, she felt like an itch was being scratched somewhere deep in her mind.
This is how Amity wanted to react to the world. It wasn’t just calm nods or pleasant giggles, it was rough jumping and harsh noise, kicking and laughing and screaming and yelling. It was like every moment she’d suppressed any emotion was boiling over, in a huge crush of emotion and energy. The rain didn’t boil her skin, or burn her hair. It melted her barriers.
My eyes greet hers and hers do mine
And then the room becomes her shrine.
An older ma'am sets herself straight
And then she smiles with 88 remembered loves
And morning suns until her woven was sung.
Her fingers dropped like falling rain.
The entire room awash with the sustain.
Luz, for what it’s worth, followed along closely. Even when Amity would let go to twirl and spin, Luz would just watch, body moving, eyes still. It was such an odd sight, seeing Amity just loose like this. Out in the open, hair made dark green by the water. Skin so wet her fingers showed signs of pruning. The wind was picking up, the weather was getting stronger, and Amity was getting more energetic, more open.
This is what Luz really wanted. She wanted Amity to be unafraid of herself. She wanted Amity comfortable in her own skin, holding her own in her body. Luz noticed that Amity wasn’t even masking her ears anymore. Luz noticed Amity was beginning to yell, just primal yells into the rain, with no one there but them. So, Luz screamed with her, still twirling and running around in the fenced in yard. She was far from Amity, but she was also so deeply connected to her. All at once, she was a million miles away, and inches apart…
You always said that you don't dance
But then a heel turn to a shadow stance.
I'm wrung like sodden cloth.
And the autumn leaves turn over across your floor,
Into the hall and I've declined into a crawl
And you decompress and fall away but
This floor is raised on beams of trust
And there's room enough for both of us so stay. Sustain.
As the music died down, the two found themselves close again. Huffing and smiling, heaving in air as they stared into each other’s eyes. Neither was great with eye contact, but both knew each other well. It seemed, to Amity, like Luz was waiting for something in the music. For one line, or one swell, or one drop, to do something. Luz’s smile was fading, not entirely, but into something more gentle. More loving. More calm.
Luz, too, sensed Amity was waiting for something. Her breathing slowed, her eyes widened, her pupils dilated. Her blush was back, as was Luz’s own, both indicating what they wished to do. But only at the right moment. Only at the best moment.
The two had been crushing on each other for ages now. They knew they wanted to be something more than what they were. More than friends, more than acquaintances. But it was less ‘friends OR lovers’, more ‘friends and lovers’. They simply wished to add a title to it. Both of them. At once.
Amity let out one last huff, “I think we shou-”
“Wait!” Luz sopped her, “I-I know what you want, but wait, just one second.” Luz said, still wearing a gentle smile as she leaned forward.
Amity leaned forward as well, making her want a bit more known as she moved hair away from her eyes. Amity knew Luz was interested. Luz knew Amity was interested. No more ‘disaster’ Amity, no more ‘idiot’ Luz. They were sure. They were both sure.
Then, all at once, when seconds felt like days, the snare belted seven loud strokes, and the music picked up. Luz called out, “Whatever it is, NOW-”
To call it a kiss would be an understatement. Amity grabbed Luz’s arms and pulled her in tight, pressing wet lips to Luz’s own. Both of their lips tasted like rainwater, slightly salty from sweat, and now tears joining the mix. Luz wrapped her arms around the small of Amity’s back, letting the rain envelope them and the wind sway them. The raindrops were getting bigger and more sparse, a sign that the rain was beginning to slow.
Inside your room there's 40 few
Remaining figures of new moons
To curve around your axle heart
In hopes that something new will start.
The things you grow are set to die.
You cling to them with knuckles white.
So wind me up, damper to floor
And I don't know if I know love no more.
The kiss lasted for a while, almost to the end of the song before Amity pulled away from Luz, still gripping her, still looking her in the eye, reaching up and moving hair out of her face. Amity never thought this kind of thing would happen. She thought she would’ve ended up with some noble to retain her status, or some girl who was just pretty. But she wasn’t in love with Luz because of her status, or her looks (though that second part helped), she was with Luz because she wanted to be. Love had a new meaning to Amity. A very new one. She didn’t really know what love was. Now, though, she knew.
Luz, on the other hand, had thought this scenario out dozens of ties in her head; meet a guy or a girl, fall deeply in love with them, kiss in the rain. It was genius, wasn’t it? And it’s exactly what she’d wanted to happen to her. But this? This plan hadn’t started as ‘let’s get Amity to kiss me’ . This plan had just...started out of nowhere. Rain was cool, and Luz thought Amity might like it! If it wasn’t trying to boil her alive.
As the song ended, and the speaker stopped playing, the pair just stared at each other. The rain and wind dying down, as the sun shined through a spot in the clouds Amity, exhausted, fell into Luz’s arms. Luz, also a little tired, buckled under her and fell onto her backside, giggling as she did.
Luz rose to her feet, “Come on, we should dry off before mama gets back.”
Amity blinked and nodded, casting a spell that dried of her and Luz’s hair. “...I don’t know how to do the clothes yet.”
Luz was wearing pajamas as she tossed her and Amity’s clothes in the drier. She wiped her forehead and went to find Amity, leaning on the steps to the basement. “Amity?” Luz asked, looking over, “You okay?”
Amity looked back at her and smiled gently, blushing, “Oh, yeah, I just-well, y’know. I’m worried, is all.” her smile faded. “What are we going to tell your mom?”
Luz blinked, “About what?”
“About us!” Amity said, looking over, “When my mom found out Emira was dating Viney, she nearly had an aneurysm!” She sighed, “What if your om doesn’t think we should be together?” She asked . “It could be class divide from my mom and something else fro yours, and-”
Luz placed a hand on Amity’s cheek, “ No tengas miedo, Dulzura.” She smiled gently, “Mama already likes you. And she didn’t freak out when I came out to her, so I’m guessing she won’t freak out if I’m dating a girl.”
Amity smiled gently, leaning into Luz and sighing. She looked up at her, ‘What was that...that thing we were doing?” Amity asked, smiling, “Out in the rain, I mean.”
Luz giggled, “Homosexual fast dancing.”
Amity’s face scrunched up in disbelief, “It was not !”
Luz giggled, “It was! Honest, that’s the technical term for it!”
Amity giggled back, “Well, Luz, I’ll gladly homosexually fast dance in the rain with you again.”
Luz smiled, kissing Amity’s forehead, “I figured.”