Archive of Our Own

Twyla Sands has known the precise day that she would meet the love of her life since she was a little girl. Her Gran read it in her cards and told Twyla that fate could rarely be tampered with. She thinks that’s the risk of growing up in a house full of witches and of being a witch herself; few things are ever really a surprise.

Most of the people of Schitt’s Creek have always known them as ‘those Sands women’ and left it at that. But some have sought them out for advice, and Twyla’s been known to read tarot to help fundraise on occasion. However, few really believe they’re magic, and they’ve always been okay with that.

Winter Solstice is their celebration, though, and this year more than most years, Twyla’s excited.

This year is the day she’s been anticipating since she was young. So, she set up a party at the café and invited everyone.

Even Alexis is coming in from New York City because she said if Twyla was going to meet her true love, she needed her best friend there for support.

Alexis is the first to arrive before the rest of the guests are set to show up, looking like a sight in a red dress, making Twyla quietly wonder how anyone will even notice her with Alexis in the room.

Twyla’s dress is green, and she’s put a holly sprig in her hair to match.

“Twy!” Alexis exclaims. “This looks great! Like, definite 2019 Kardashian Christmas party vibes.” She gives Twyla a glowing smile and reaches across the counter for a hug.

“Thanks,” Twyla replies. “David helped some. But I had to tell him that we couldn’t have real taper candles because that many would be a fire hazard.” She waved a hand around to the candles that were set up. “The trees and garland are real, though.”

“Couldn’t you just make them not fire-hazard-y?” Alexis asks, wiggling her fingers in the universal gesture for magic, which makes Twyla laugh under her breath.

“It doesn’t work like that,” Twyla explains. “I can’t use magic for everything. There are rules.” Growing up, she had always wished that her magic was more Harry Potter than it was.

“Like not trying to figure out who you’re going to meet tonight?” Alexis continues with a devious smile, leaning her chin in her hand.

“I’ll know when I know,” Twyla returns, squelching the butterflies when they threaten to cause a frenzy in her stomach. Despite knowing what the night holds, she’s been trying not to focus on it too much.

“But, like, will it be some handsome wizard or warlock that breezes in and sweeps you off your feet?” Alexis continues, eyebrows wiggling. “Is that a thing?”

Twyla shakes her head. “No, that’s not a thing,” she says, reaching for a rag to wipe down the counter again, even though it’s already spotless. It gives her something to do.

“But it could be a thing?”

“Come help me with drinks,” Twyla says, changing the subject. “Everyone else will be here soon.”

'Everyone else' turns out to be a lot of familiar faces and some that Twyla doesn’t know, which leaves her wondering if her mystery love is amongst the strangers. More than once, she’s thought about if she should have asked her Gran if there would be a feeling of some kind when the moment happened because she’s greeted everyone so far and has felt entirely normal with every hello and every “Happy Yule!”

“So?” Alexis questions, stepping up to Twyla’s elbow, eyes asking all the questions she’s not saying aloud.

Twyla doesn’t think she could get through tonight without her.

“Nothing,” Twyla replies. “Totally normal, no sparks, no lightbulb moments.” If she didn’t wholly believe in Gran’s prediction, she would think something was wrong.

“Well, why don’t you just try a couple,” Alexis suggests. Twyla knows she’s trying to help in her own way, but it only serves to make Twyla’s stomach flip again.

“Lex, it’s not like trying on shoes,” Twyla responds, biting her lip. “I think I’ll know when I know.” She hopes so, anyway.

Alexis squeezes her elbow gently and kisses her cheek.

“If you need a wing-woman to help move things along, I’ll be over there,” she tells Twyla, pointing at where Stevie, Patrick, David, and Mr. and Mrs. Rose are seated.

Twyla decides that Jakob, with the great hair and the pleasant smile, definitely is not the one when he mentions that he doesn’t think magic is real and that fate doesn’t exist. Twyla’s not even sure how they got there, but she’s grateful it happens because she can scratch him off the list of potentials.

Elisa is also marked off the list when she mentions that tarot readings give her the heebie-jeebies.

Marc is adorable but very married, and Twyla doesn’t believe fate would be that cruel. So off the list he goes, and his wife too. But only because Gran never said anything about loves of her life.

The lack of plural feels important.

Katie, Andrew, Micah, and Melanie also get marked off, and as the hours dwindle and it gets later, Twyla starts to think that maybe Gran got the day wrong. Reading cards isn’t like reading words on a page; there’s always some room for misinterpretation.

“She seemed nice,” Alexis comments, breaking Twyla out of her thoughts.

“Mhm,” Twyla replies, sipping her drink.

“So?”

“No.”

“Twy!” Alexis exclaims softly. “I hate this for you. You know, I could start asking aroun-”

“No!” Twyla cuts her off emphatically, then offers an apologetic look. “It’s fine. If Gran was right, it will happen, and if she wasn’t”—Twyla shrugs—“I’ll plan for next year.”

“But, you can’t spend the whole year just waiting for something,” Alexis points out stubbornly. “Like, you can’t just live your whole life holding your breath until that someone walks in.” The crease between Alexis’s eyebrows tells Twyla how frustrated she is for her. “You’re going to miss so much that way!”

Twyla doesn’t disagree. But nothing else Gran told her has ever not come true, so she knows she just needs to believe it will happen.

“It’s hard to explain,” Twyla says. “But I’m not holding my breath, Lex. I’m not just waiting on pause.” Alexis knows she dates and has had relationships; she should understand that Twyla isn’t just waiting for her life to start.

“But you could be missing something perfect just because you’re waiting for something else!” Alexis throws back, her frustration for Twyla so evident in her tone.

Or maybe it’s frustration at Twyla. It’s hard to tell now.

“I need some air!” Alexis continues before Twyla can say anything else, rushing away in a swirl of red and gold, leaving Twyla to wonder where their talk had taken such a turn.

They’ve talked about it before, and Alexis has never been anything but supportive. She was the one who encouraged Twyla to make this year’s Winter Solstice such an occasion. Twyla doesn’t understand her newly-found frustration.

“Ok,” Twyla says to the air, ushered into a conversation with Jocelyn and Gwen before she has more time to process.

Another hour passes before Twyla notices that Alexis is avoiding her. Or rather, that she acknowledges that Alexis is avoiding her. It stings, and it serves to amplify what hasn’t happened yet.

But it’s not until the last guests are saying their goodbyes that Twyla decides to say something to her about earlier.

Alexis is perched in a booth towards the back, sipping the last of her drink and arguing with David about the best way to remove all the decorations.

“I have helped with Interflix parties, David!” Twyla overhears Alexis exclaim as she walks up.

“Hi,” Twyla interrupts before it can escalate to a full-blown Rose sibling fight.

“Hi,” Alexis replies, hesitantly and out-of-character.

“Can we talk?” Twyla asks her. David takes that as an excuse to leave and find Patrick, and Twyla couldn’t be more appreciative of the privacy. She waits for Alexis to nod before she takes a seat.

“I’m sorry,” Twyla begins. “I’m not sure what set you off, and you don’t have to tell me. But I know what this probably looks like from the outside.” She notices the way that Alexis relaxes her shoulders.

“I just, you’re amazing, Twy. Like, the best, and it’s just really dumb that you’re just left waiting for something,” Alexis says, fidgeting absently with her drink. “Like, there were so many people here, and nobody was who you were waiting for. It just, it doesn’t make sense, and it makes me really angry.”

Twyla smiles and reaches across the table to still Alexis’s fidgeting.

“Thank you,” Twyla says. “For being angry for me.”

“But aren’t you angry!?!?” Alexis replies, undertones of frustration still lacing her words. “I mean, seriously!”

Twyla’s not sure how to calm Alexis down or make things better. “I’ve said it before it’s hard to exp-”

“Explain! I know!” Alexis cuts her off. “But wouldn’t it just be easier if you had met your person? if they had walked in here, and you could move on!”

“Sure,” Twyla agrees. “But it doesn’t work that way.”

Alexis makes a frustrated noise and pulls her hand away from Twyla’s.

“Well, it would be easier on me if it did!” she tells Twyla. “Then maybe I could move on!”

Twyla’s eyebrows furrow, confused. “What’s that supposed to mean?” she asks. “I’m not holding you back from anything.”

“I wasn’t ever going to say anything, but ugh, fine,” Alexis says, not doing a thing to clear up her confusing statement. “I’m not your person, but that doesn’t mean I don’t want to be.” Twyla notices that Alexis isn’t looking directly at her, and it takes a beat for her to realize what Alexis has admitted.

“Lex,” Twyla says, reaching for her hand again, hoping Alexis won’t pull away.

“Like, I know that if it were me, your Gran wouldn’t have said it would be today,” Alexis continues. “But that doesn’t stop me from wanting, you know.” Twyla’s relieved when Alexis stops focusing just over her shoulder and looks at her. “So, I thought the next best thing would be to help. But then it didn’t happen, and”—she pauses, squeezing Twyla’s hand—“I just want you to be happy.”

There’s not a lightbulb, or a spark, or a blinking neon sign, but there is a sudden realization that Twyla has been missing something so obvious.

“Lex,” Twyla repeats, suddenly looking at everything in a different light. “I am happy.”

“But,” Alexis begins to argue, and the only thing that Twyla can do to keep her from arguing further is lean across the tabletop and kiss her.

It’s a little awkward with the Formica digging into her ribs and the angles not quite right. But Alexis seems to get the message.

“You are,” Twyla murmurs when they separate, forehead still pressed against Alexis’s. “My person, I mean. It just took a minute for me to realize it.”

“Oh,” Alexis breathes, surprise on her face. “Well, your Gran could have been more clear,” she tells Twyla with a slight huff. “It would have saved us both some frustration. I mean, we’ve known each other for years!”

Twyla laughs softly and kisses Alexis again. She thinks they might have an audience but isn’t going to take the time to check.

“Don’t blame Gran. I think that really might be more my fault,” Twyla admits. “I never would have thought when you walked into the café in your fancy clothes and your fancy everything that you were who I’d been waiting for. So, it took me a minute to get there.” Twyla laughs again when Alexis huffs, obviously frustrated with the Twyla of the past.

“Well, I guess I can forgive you,” Alexis responds. “But honestly, Twy.”

“You could have said something too!” Twyla defends, voice rising at the end. There’s a clatter to their left that is undoubtedly their audience rushing to look like they weren’t eavesdropping. “Maybe we should go somewhere private to talk?”

“Mm,” Alexis hums. “Or we could talk later.”

They both get up from the table regardless and step into the back, where there’s a little more privacy.

It might not have been what Twyla expected of the night, but she has to admit, fate does know what she’s doing.

“You are not using whatever just happened as an excuse to leave us with all the clean-up!” David yells from the other side of the doors, making the both of them burst into a series of giggles.

Alexis looks ready to throw back some stereotypical Rose retort, so Twyla presses a hand against her mouth instead and calls back, “Goodnight, David! Lock up on your way out, please!”

“Mmm, but really, I think I need to talk with your Gran,” Alexis says after they hear the last of the guests leave. “Just to clear a few things up.”

“Well, if you want, I can book flights to Florida for us in the new year,” Twyla offers with a smile. “Gran retired there a few years ago.”

And actually, a beach vacation with Alexis sounds amazing.

“Yes, please!” Alexis says, eyes lighting up. “But she better not be in some stuffy retirement home.”

“Oh no! She has a house on the beach,” Twyla assures. “And it only has a few ghosts.”

“Twy! I’m not sharing my vacation with ghosts!”

“They’re really nice, though! They’re not Peeping Toms at all.”

“Oh my god, Twy!”

Twyla laughs. She thinks she can probably get Alexis to come around on the ghosts. She basically acts like all of Twyla’s magic is normal; introducing her to the rest of the supernatural will just take some time.

“We can talk about it later,” Twyla says, leaning up for another kiss.

She’ll have to call her Gran anyway and let her know what happened. It’s not every day that a prediction comes true, after all.