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Luz poked her head out of her room, glancing from side to side at the silent hallway.
"Coast is clear..." She murmured, grateful that she was wearing her super soft fuzzy kitten socks as she crept on the floorboards. It was a common fact that all residents of the Owl House were nosy hooligans, and as much as Luz adored them–even she was at her wits end. The bathroom was right across from her room, so with as much stealth as she possibly could, the young human reached for the knob and let the door creak open with a shrill squeak.
Just as her luck would have it, the bathroom happened to be occupied. Behind the shower curtain, was the familiar sound of water trickling down the drain. As soon as she entered, and her steps landed on the first tile- the shower abruptly stopped. She froze in place, wondering how on Earth was she going to explain this.
"WHO DARES DISRUPT THE KING OF DEMONS BATHING RITUAL??" bellowed a voice from behind the curtains. King’s disgruntled expression greeted her, eyebrows furrowed.
"Sorry King, I didn't realize–" Luz quickly started to apologize profusely, hoping he wouldn't be too upset.
The little canine creature stormed out of the shower (although it was more of an awkward hobble followed by several determined squeaks as he had to physically climb out the tub itself) He was clad in a pink bath towel around his waist and gripping a rubber duckling in his tiny fist.
"Haven't I told you bath time is King Time?" He demanded, stomping his clawed foot. The little demon paused his tantrum upon noting her stressed expression and half bitten nails. "Luz? You okay? Did you accidentally drink some of Eda's spiked apple blood?"
"Nope. Not after last time." She shivered at the memory, "Can I use the bathroom? I need to freshen up for my date with Amity in..." Her eyes darted to the cuckoo clock. "Forty six minutes."
"WaitwaitwaitWAIT!" King stopped her, by clawing at her shoelaces until she eventually lifted him in her arms, "That's tonight? Why didn't you say so! You're gonna need all the help you can get." He hopped out of her arms and started rummaging through a cabinet.
"Thanks?" She wasn't sure if that was a helpful comment or an insult. With King Clawthorne, it was difficult to tell.
"I can help you too, hoot hoot!" Hooty, the owl noodle as Luz affectionately referred to him, attempted to pull his long snake-like body through the bathroom window. King groaned and promptly slammed the window shut.
"Now!" King clasped his claws together. "Shall we get started?"
Luz wrinkled her nose, puzzled.
"Come on Luz, you can't expect to go on a date with Amity with a stain on your shirt!"
"I don't have a stain on my..." She looked down quickly, yelping as she saw a droplet of boysenberry juice stuck to her favorite cat hoodie. "I don't know any cleaning spells yet! What should I do?"
"Here!" King offered, shoving a washcloth in her face.
"No!" She shrieked, snatched it, and tossed it into the sink. "I've gotta find a new outfit. Something a little nicer. I want to look good for..." She felt her cheeks warm, "My girlfriend. My girlfriend." She confirmed again, feeling giddy and filled with bubbling joy every time she said that special word.
Luz snapped her fingers, "That top Willow lent me!" She darted out of the bathroom faster than a sugar high jackalope, moving so quickly that she nearly knocked her entire bedroom door over.
When she returned, she was wearing a simple laced purple shirt with a cream trim at the bottom. She was still wearing her jean shorts and shoes that had only a slight wedge to them (since she had a tendency to trip).
Luz demonstrated her outfit by doing a clumsy twirl then finished with a bow.
King hummed his approval. He too, had snatched something for her date. A shiny tube of ruby red lipstick. "I found this in Eda's drawer! I think you smear this on your eyeballs. Give it a try!"
Luz chuckled, "Yeah, I'm pretty sure that isn't what it's for," She took the lipstick from him, squinting at it, "Besides, I don't think Amity really cares if I wear makeup or not. At least...I don't think she does."
"I'm sure she does! Makeup makes you look pretty!" King scrunched his nose. "Doesn't she wear makeup anyway?"
"Not that I've noticed but, maybe I haven't been really looking close enough?" Luz gulped, placing the lipstick down suddenly. "Should I wear makeup? Is that more appealing? I mean, I've never even been on a real date before so how should I know?"
King wasn't sure how to respond, so he tapped his chin thoughtfully.
She stared at her reflection, panting and overanalyzing every speck of dust on her shirt, every zit dotted on her face, every single thing that would make Amity recoil in horror. Words started to spill out as she frantically rambled to herself.
"No puedo hacerlo... No, no puedo hacer esto. No puedo abandonarla así. No cuando ella espera que vaya. Pero... ¿Qué pasa si la fastidio? ¿Si hago alguna estupidez y lo arruino todo?" She turned away from the mirror in frustration.
"I may not be bilingual, but I'm pretty sure that was a lot of negativity you just said," King plopped his rump on the rug with folded paws.
Leaning against the wall, she sighed and sat beside him with another dejected groan. "It was. I'm not sure I'm ready for this. I mean I thought I was but now I realized how terrifying this is. This is a big deal!"
"You've hung out with Amity before right?"
"Well, yeah."
"How is this any different from all those other times?"
"Those other times we weren't girlfriends," Luz narrowed her eyes. She and King both watched as the tube of lipstick rolled off the sink with a loud click. "I just don't want to mess this up."
"It'll look even worse if you don't show up at all!"
Luz and King's heads shot up to see Hooty floating outside the window, looking chipper as always. He had to shout even louder just to be heard, "By the way, Amity's at the door, hoot!"
A string of curses came out one by one as Luz trampled past the King and leaped down the stairs. Out of breath and extremely sweaty, she swung open the door to reveal...
The most breathtaking girl in the world standing in front of her. Amity Blight smiled softly with her rosy, dimpled cheeks aligning perfectly with her lavender hair. Her outfit was simple, but stylish blue dress.
"Hi." She whispered with a wave.
"Hi..." Luz replied, internally swooning.
"You look...amazing," Amity said, tucking her hair behind her pointed ear.
Luz's cheeks heated up instantly from the spontaneous compliment. "So do you!" she said. "Your outfit is really..." Her mind raced. Beautiful? Gorgeous? Attractive? "Pretty..."
Amity blushed. "Thanks," she laughed. "Between you and me I actually stole it from Em. Hopefully she won't notice."
Luz quirked an amused brow, almost about to burst out laughing. Thinking of Amity Blight- the seemingly perfect witch she had assumed so long ago, revealing that she indeed was quite sneaky was just too amusing. She crossed her heart. "I shan't tell a soul."
There was a long awkward silence as both girls tried to decide what to say next. Amity made the decision to hold out her hand, but retracted it immediately afterwards. She tried again, and Luz followed- only to curl her fingers into a claw shape.
"Crab hands." She snickered as they shared an awkward laugh. "Do we just...?" She unfolded her hand slowly.
"I think so."
She naturally took Luz's extremely sweaty hand.
"So where are we going for our first date?" Luz asked, before slapping a hand over her mouth. "I mean, this is a date, right?" Her voice came out as a muffled squeak.
Amity smirked, retracting her hand and gesturing behind her. "It's a surprise." Her eyes were twinkling with mischief as her palisman, a sweet white kitty named Ghost attached itself to the staff beside her. Amity mounted on the side saddle.
"We're flying? Alright, count me in!" Luz cheered. She had flown with Eda countless times, and although her mentor was a bit wild with her flying, she loved it. She eagerly hopped on behind her girlfriend. It was a tight squeeze, but Luz didn't mind one bit.
"Ready? Hold on tight!" And they were off. Luz found herself gripping on for dear life, hugging Amity's back, but keeping her eyes open, even when they watered from the freezing cold air hitting her face. Her stomach lurched forward when the staff swerved downwards. Just because she was used to flying, didn't mean she was totally cool with the side effects. They landed with little grace. "Tada! Sorry for the bumpy ride."
"Oh it's no problem," Luz grinned sheepishly, silently praying she wasn't green right now. "You know me, I love a good adventure! I also love the ground. Sweet ground."
"I'm still getting the hang of flying," Amity admitted.
"So where are we?" Luz looked around, noticing that they were uphill, a sweet green slope dissolving into a meadow of flowers, pixies fluttering about like twinkling stars. "It's beautiful." Her heart was thumping rhythmically to an unknown beat.
"Ah, it's just a place I go to think. Study mostly, get away from my issues..." She trailed off. "The Boiling Isles isn't exactly quiet. This is the one place where it's actually peaceful. It's my favorite spot next to Hexside."
Luz sat next to her, shoulders pressed together in an awkward, but loving gesture. "And you love me so much that you wanted to show me your favorite spot. Nawwww, Ammy, I didn't know you were so sappy!"
Amity blushed profusely. "Guess so."
"You know, it's kinda funny that we picked today of all days to have our first date."
The other girl scrunched her nose in confusion. "What do you mean?"
"It's February 14th," Luz replied. "You know..." She paused as she saw Amity's face morph into more confusion. "Oh my, you wouldn't know! See in the human world we have this really stupid holiday. It's called Valentine's Day."
"Oh? What's it about?"
"It's named after some saint I think. Basically it's a day to celebrate who you love. Girlfriends, boyfriends, partners, family love, friendly love, love for your pets. It seems sweet in theory, but then it became commercialized over the years. Now the sentiment is ruined because everyone's obsessed with making sure their sweetheart gets the most expensive gift."
"What sort of gifts?"
"Chocolates, cards, flowers. Stupid stuff mostly. Except for the chocolates, that part is awesome." Luz folded her hands neatly and turned back to Amity. "What's wrong?"
"It's just- just if I had known it was a special holiday back home, I would have gotten you something," She admitted.
"You've never even heard of the holiday until I mentioned it like, five seconds ago. Heck, I forgot about it myself!" Luz giggled. "Please don't feel bad! Valentine's Day is a dumb holiday anyway."
"I don't think it's dumb in theory," said Amity. "I mean sure, it sounds like it was only made so flower businesses could make money. But it sounds sweet in a way."
"It kinda is. Mom and I used to just pig out on chocolates every year," Luz snickered, a longing look in her eye.
"I know you miss her."
"All the time," She murmured. "I wish you could meet her. She'd like you a lot. My beautiful, pointy-eared girlfriend."
Amity blushed, kissing her cheek. "I'd like to meet her too. And next Valentine's Day, I'd like to properly celebrate. I feel bad that this year had to be so lame for you."
As Luz caught a glimpse of the moonlight shining above them, she smiled. "Actually, I think it's been just perfect."