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Luz was viciously bouncing up and down on the couch, jumping so high that someone could mistake the crashing of the springs for the screeching of scratched metal. Luz didn’t care about the noise though, her wide, jubilant smile and eyes twinkling in excitement were evident enough to how much she was looking forward to this: her first proper sleepover.
Sure there was the conjuring night where she, Gus and Willow all accidentally took the owl house for a joy ride across the Boiling Isles, but that night wasn’t a “proper” sleepover for human standards. No, tonight would be filled with nonstop laughing, yummy treats, and competitive games as they all stay up until sunrise! Besides, this time Amity will come over too. Yup, this will be the perfect evening she has imagined since she was a kid.
Luz couldn’t help but giggle out of excitement as she sprang extra high. She was just so giddy thinking about finally being able to check this event off her bucket list, and she couldn’t imagine any other friends to do it with!
“Luz! Get off the dang couch before you break it!” Eda yelled, her tone holding more concern than anger.
“Ah, sorry Eda!” Luz apologized as she hopped off the couch and wandered her way towards her witch mother-figure.
“Now listen kid, Lilith, King and I all have to go sort some things out in town. So after your friends get here, we are going to leave. Now I am trusting you all to not destroy the house for a few hours, I’ll be back before ten and I’ll be expecting the place to still be in one piece,” Eda said. “You understand?”
“Yes Eda! I won’t let you down.”
“Good.” Eda smiled before ruffling Luz’s hair. “And remember to have fun, kid. You only get to be a kid once.”
“I will!” Luz paused for a second before running up to Eda and giving her a big hug. “Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you so much for letting me do this again Eda.”
“Of course kid,” Eda said right before the doorbell rang. “Oh, it looks like your friends are here now, I guess that’s my cue to leave. Remember to not set the house on fire, don’t go into my room, and if you think of anything I would do, don’t do it!… Well, not without me at least.”
Luz chuckled at that last bit.
“We’ll all be back by ten!” Eda called out to her as she made her way towards the door.
“Okay, I’ll see you then!” Luz waved as she watched Eda greet her friends inside before leaving. As soon as the door closed, she ran as fast as her weak nerd legs could take her towards the group of three and tackled them into a group hug. “You made it!”
“Of course we did! We weren’t about to miss out on the night of a lifetime!” Gus grinned as he hugged Luz back.
“Yeah, we would never miss this Luz. Besides, we love hanging out with you,” Willow said. “But would you mind letting go, you're squeezing us a bit tight.”
“Oh, right, sorry, I am just really into hugs and you guys are the best friends a witch-in-training could ask for.” Luz sheepishly smiled before turning to her last guest. “Hey Amity! I’m so glad you are here too, you look lovely tonight.”
Amity blushed a bit as she nodded, wearing a shy smile. “Yeah, thanks for inviting me. I’m glad I could make it too, though I now owe Ed and Em for convincing our mother to let me come here.”
“Ah, forget about parents, for tonight at least. For the next 24 hours, we shall only be thinking about fun, fun, and more fun!” Luz cheered while excitedly waving jazz hands at Amity.
“If you say so, but what do humans do at human sleep overs anyways?” Willow asked.
“Are witches even allowed to go to human sleepovers?” Gus gasped. “Are we breaking a secret code that will get you banished from your human kingdom?”
“No, no, chillax Gus,” Luz reassured him.
“…Chill-lax?” Gus questioned with a puzzled expression, looking at Willow with hope for a clue to understand, only to receive a mere shrug in equal confusion in response.
“Don't question it, just know that we are all going to have a carefree night, I promise that! And it’ll start with,” Luz paused mid-sentence as she ran across the room and opened a drawer to scourge through. She stuck out her tongue as she pushed the random cluster of who-knows-what aside until she found what she was looking for. “Aha! A card game!”
Luz then ushered the group onto the couch and slammed down the card game. A red box with multi colors of blue, green, yellow, black, white and red smaller cards was displayed on the table. The bright yellow letters in Spanish made Luz smile a bit as she remembered playing this game back home with her mom. Now, she can finally play it with friends.
“Witches of all backgrounds and ages, I would like to present to you,” Luz paused for a second to create anticipation as she bit back a goofy grin. “The wonderful human sleepover card game: Uno.”
“Ooh, pulling out all the fancy stops I see.” Gus winked as he excitedly tapped the table with his fingers in a happy stim.
“Seems neat, how do you play?” Amity asked.
“Oh, you guys are in for a real treat.” Luz grinned, imagining all the fun they were about to have.
“How could you betray me like this?!” Gus slammed his hand on the table after the last card was placed.
“It’s not betrayal, it’s a strategy!” Amity argued back, glaring daggers at him.
“Your strategy is to ruin my chances of winning?”
“What was I supposed to do? I’m not picking up four cards!”
“So you stacked a plus four to make me pick up eight?!?!” Gus screeched as he gestured to his hand now full of cards.
“Luz, I feel more fear than fun right now,” Willow whispered as she quietly watched the two battle in horror.
“Same Willow, same.” Luz sighed.
Ah, yes, good ol’ Uno.
Luz forgot for a second that it was the game known for ruining friendships. Oops.
Bright side: at least she didn’t go with witchnopoly like she had originally planned. The Boiling Isles rip-off game of monopoly that Eda made to sell to customers a while ago would have burnt the house down if the gang had tried to play it.
Or even worse, she could have picked Eda’s magic-ified game, Humanji. Now that would have been a real mess.
“I swear, you are such a—“
“Woah now!” Luz jumped in, snapping herself out of her thoughts at the right time before things got too heated. “It’s okay guys, it’s just a game.”
“Just a game?” Amity narrowed her eyes.
Luz forgets sometimes how competitive Amity can be. Well, at least she is still cute.
“Yes Amity, it’s just a game.” Luz smiled before turning to the group again. “Hey, I know, let’s stop playing this and eat the snacks Eda left us.”
“Aw, but I wanted to finish a human game with everyone.” Gus pouted.
“Well, maybe we can play a spoken game. Like never have I ever?” Luz suggested.
The gang all agreed and moved from the couch to the kitchen to eat snacks, they then sat down and began the game after Luz quickly explained the rules.
“Okay, so who wants to go first?” Luz asked, only for everyone to silently look at her expectantly. “Okay… I guess I’ll go first then. Hmm… never have I ever pet a cactus.”
Willow put down a finger while giggling.
“They aren’t that prickly if you are careful,” Willow explained as she noticed Gus staring at her in astonishment.
“Daring, I like it. How ‘bout you go next?” Luz asked.
“Sure thing.” Willow smiled. “Uh, never have I ever been a grom queen.”
Luz and Amity both blushed at hearing that as they both put one finger down.
“Hardy har har, way to not target anyone.” Amity rolled her eyes in faux annoyance.
“Sorry, I couldn't think of anything else.”
“Ooh! Can I go next?” Gus raised his hand, waving it around in the air.
“Sure thing Gus!”
“Yessss!” Gus cheered before happily tapping his legs. “Okay, okay, first round of this human game. Never have I ever… called my teacher dad or mom.”
Both Willow and Amity put a finger down, avoiding the others' stares in embarrassment. Meanwhile, Luz contemplated on what to do.
“Does, um, Eda count?” She awkwardly asked while rubbing the back of her shoulder.
“Yes.” The other kids said in unison.
“Son of a witch.”
“Hey! Language!” Gus pointed at her, yet wore a goofy smile.
“Sorry.” Luz sheepishly apologized.
“You’re even sounding like Eda now.” Willow giggled, causing the others to join in the laughter.
“Okay, okay,” Amity said after calming down. “So I guess it’s my turn now?”
“Yeah! Hit us Amity with something good!” Luz cheered.
“O-okay.” Amity pondered a bit, blushing as she thought of what to say. “Well, never have I ever… liked… a guy.”
The room went quiet for a second, before Luz let out a loud groan.
“Darn it, now I’m down to two fingers! You guys are way too good at this game!” She whined playfully before flashing Amity a happy smile.
“Oh, so you like guys?” Amity asked as she hugged her knees.
“Yup! And girls!” Luz confirmed.
“Same here!” Willow said.
“Oh my gosh, twinsies!” Luz cheered.
“Oh, well I just like girls.” Amity quietly mumbled.
“That’s the chil-lax Amity,” Gus said before looking at Luz while holding up his hand for a high five. “Eh?”
“That’s not how you use it, but A for effort!” Luz high-fives Gus anyways, not one to leave her friend hanging. “But yeah, that is cool Amity!”
“Thanks.” Amity smiled softly as she leaned her head down onto her knees.
The group continued to play round after round until only Gus was left, cheering that he won. Everyone was laughing and congratulating him, a giddy and warm feeling resonating inside the room as they talked about the game. Then Willow yawned, crashing the mood with a new contagious lethargy. Suddenly everyone's eyelids felt heavier than a building, and the once energized hyperness of the night fell into a sleepy desire to end the night. But before that could happen, Luz had to say something that was on her mind all night.
“Hey, can I go again, one last time tonight?” Luz asked.
“Huh, but the game is already over?” Amity asked.
“I know, this one is just for fun,” Luz explained.
“Well, I don’t see why not? Right guys?” Willow asked with a small smile.
“Yeah, just make it quick please, I need my beauty sleep,” Gus requested before yawing, rubbing his eyes sleepily.
“Of course.” Luz nodded, before biting her lip as she thought of how to properly word it, her tired mind causing her to struggle a bit. “So, never have I ever gotten to laugh so much, play games for so long, or just spend this time with friends before… actually, never have I ever had amazing friends like you before I came to the Boiling Isles. I just wanted to say, thanks I guess?” Luz let out a tired and awkward laugh.
“Awww, Luz!” Amity cooed, before giving Luz a half hug, quietly giggling before resting her head on Luz’s shoulder.
“And you’re the best human we could ever ask to become our friend,” Willow added, before sleepily laying her head down onto the counter next to a half asleep Gus.
Luz couldn’t help but smile at this. The warm and gushy feeling inside of her spread like a wildfire as she calmly closed her eyes and silently drifted off to sleep, immersed in such a loving feeling as she was surrounded by her friends.
This might not be her exact home, but it was home nonetheless, and Luz will cherish these moments while she can, for she would trade them for nothing else in the world.
When Eda and Co. came back to the owl house, they found all the kids passed out in the kitchen.
“I thought Luz said they were going to stay up all night?” Lilith asked. “Isn’t it only ten?”
“Yeah Lily, you’re right.” Eda narrowed her eyes. “Hey Hooty? What time did the kids clock in for the night?”
“About 8:30, hoot!”
“Typical, as should be expected of the weak mortals, they aren’t strong like a king like myself!” King proudly claimed.
“You basically napped the whole way back, Lily had to carry you in her purse,” Eda pointed out.
“Silence!” King cutely growled in one of his small attempts to hold power.
“C’mon King, let’s go to bed.” Lilith ushered him out of the room.
“Sure, leave me with all the dumb kids.” Eda huffed before looking over at Luz, cuddling Amity while sleeping with a small smile.
Eda rolled her eyes lovingly before moving all the kids to the couch. She then turned off the light and made her way out of the living room and up to her room. However, she stopped one last time to look at Luz again.
“Glad you had fun kid,” she whispered.