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“I’m sorry, I have to do what now?”
Luz stared down at the paper in her hands. It was the script of the short film Willow had asked her to help with, in the form of playing the role of the main character. It’s not the fact she had to act–that was fine with her, as she had agreed to help, after all. It was what she had to act.
It was foolish to agree before actually taking a look at the script and seeing what she had signed up for. Was it too late to drop out?
She opened her mouth, but Willow held up a hand. “No, you can’t drop out. We’re literally filming in fifteen minutes and I don’t have anyone to replace you.”
Luz groaned, burying her face in the paper. “What did I do to deserve this?”
Her friend choked back a laugh. “Actually, I’m doing you a favor by giving you the role I did.”
She stilled, slowly lowering the script so she could glare at Willow. “What do you mean, ‘doing me a favor’? How is making me fake flirt with someone I probably don’t even know a ‘favor’?”
Willow just smirked and raised her eyebrows.
Realization dawning upon her, the other girl’s eyes widened. “No. No, Willow, you didn’t.”
“Oh,” she drawled, leaning over and looking up at Luz, “but I did.”
Luz gulped as her face began to heat up. Of course she would. Of course she would have her play the love interest in this stupid short film.
“Why,” she nearly whimpered, “are you trying to set me up like this? ”
Willow shrugged. “If this isn’t the perfect opportunity, then I don’t know what is. You’re too chicken to talk to her otherwise.”
Was she right? Yes. Would Luz admit it? Not in a million years.
Her ears pricked as she heard footsteps approaching. A pair of black, lace up boots came into view, and Luz’s eyes slowly trailed up to the person they belonged to.
Amity Blight.
In other words, the girl that Luz had had a massive crush on since last semester.
She’d spoken to her before: they’d shared a class last semester, and had run into each other on multiple occasions during parties and the like. But every time she would get incredibly overwhelmed, because oh my god what right did Amity have smiling at her like that, and would eventually be the first to leave. Whenever they saw each other around campus, Amity would always take the time to smile and wave, even if she was busy with something else.
Every interaction left Luz a blushing red mess. And now, now she was going to have to fake flirt with her? And Amity was going to have to fake flirt back?
She wasn’t going to survive. Especially because her own flirting was going to end up being real.
A sharp nudge broke her out of her trance and she blinked a few times, glaring at Willow as she rubbed her side. ‘Say hi’, her friend mouthed.
“Oh, um, hi, Amity,” Luz muttered, refusing to make eye contact.
“Hi to you too,” Amity giggled lightly.
At the sound of her laughter, the girl’s insides started to do cartwheels. Shyly she looked up all the way, landing on her light brown eyes and the warm, lopsided smile spread across her face.
Fuck. She’s still really pretty.
She really wasn’t going to survive this.
–––
Luz found herself placed behind a low bookshelf, Amity placed on the other side. Her arms were draped casually over the top, leaning forward. Even lowered a couple inches Luz still had to look up to meet her eyes.
Curse this giant of a girl.
“Alright,” Willow called out from the side, “just stay there and flirt with each other. We’re gonna change angles a few times, so keep going until we tell you to stop.”
“Got it!” Amity replied, turning her head to the side briefly and giving Luz a break from having those stunning brown eyes on her for just a second.
But then it was back, and Luz had to brace herself. In the background the camera beeped, signaling that the recording had begun.
Before this, she had filmed another scene with the girl playing her younger sister. Skara, she believed her name was. It was easy, given she didn’t have an enormous crush on her.
This would be harder, and exponentially so.
“So,” Amity said, leaning forward more, but ever so slightly, “I’ve seen you around campus before.” Her voice was low and hushed, as if the conversation was to be kept between just the two of them.
Good lord, was it attractive. Even if the words she said sounded like a cheesy pickup line, which Luz was into anyways.
“Y-yeah,” she stuttered in response. “I’ve seen you around too.”
There wasn’t really a script for them to say during this part. As it turned out, Luz didn’t know how to improvise.
Lucky for her, Amity seemed more than capable of carrying the weight of the conversion. “Every time I’ve seen you, you’re wearing a beanie.”
She nodded, suddenly acutely aware of the hat on her head. “Yeah, I like them. I’ve been wearing them for so long that I feel kind of naked without one. Even if it got me in trouble in high school frequently,” she laughs, surprised at how naturally it came out.
Okay, this wasn’t so hard after all.
“I think they look really cute on you,” the taller girl stated simply, resting her face in her hand.
Luz blinked once. Twice. A third time, and then it hit her.
Did she just call me CUTE?
She opened her mouth to come up with something to say, anything, but Amity wasn’t done yet.
“I think I like the purple one the most.”
Was she aware of the way her words were affecting her? Even if all of this was fake, which kind of stung to think about, Luz wanted to believe it was real, at least in the moment. She reached up to touch whatever beanie she happened to have on today, and as her fingers brushed past the fraying label on the side, her cheeks reddened as she realized. She had worn the purple one today.
Hit with a sudden wave of confidence, she straightened up and crossed her own arms over the bookcase, placing her hand under her chin. “You do? Guess I should start wearing it more often then.”
Amity faltered for a second, and Luz swore she could see a blush creep up her cheeks. Her hand moved from her cheek to her hair, where she began to twirl a curl around her finger.
That was part of the script, the shorter girl could recall. But the movement was entrancing, the way the lilac locks spun around her black painted nail.
She had pretty hands, and one of Luz’s twitched as she imagined what it would be like to hold it.
Warm, probably. Or maybe cold. But definitely very soft.
The thought sent butterflies in her chest, and she swallowed as she dared to say something rather flirty. Or maybe stupid, because she really didn’t know how to flirt.
“Is my choice of clothing the only thing you find attractive about me?”
Luz hoped the camera couldn’t pick up on whatever they were saying. If she had to hear the cheesy nonsense she was spewing, she might just pass away on the spot.
Across from her, Amity ceased her hair twirling and once again leaned her head against her hand. “Fishing for compliments, are you? Very well, I’m willing to oblige.” She pulled her head away just enough to give a circle gesture towards Luz’s face. “I think all of you is very attractive, inside and out.”
Oh.
Her face was an inferno now, but she couldn’t peel her eyes away from hers as her crush stared so intensely at her.
“You try so hard to play yourself off as the bad boy type, Luz.”
Hearing Amity say her name like that made her stomach churn. It rolled off her tongue so easily, and she wanted to hear her say it again.
“But I know that deep down you’re actually a sweet, dorky person, and I wish you’d show that side of yourself more often. I want to get to know it better.”
With a deep breath, Luz tried desperately to calm her rapid heartbeat. If she didn’t know any better, she would have thought this flirting was genuine. The way she said those words so confidently, the way her last sentence softened into something akin to longing.
It all felt very real.
Of course, that was when Willow informed them that they were done recording and it was time for the next scene. Luz inhaled sharply, the air between them feeling thick with tension. She wanted to inquire about if she really meant what she’d said.
But Amity was already a few steps away. She turned around, tilting her head. “You coming?”
She nodded. There was time to ask later. At least in this scene they didn’t have to talk to each other, so it should be easier. They’d just be sitting side by side the whole time.
Somehow, the silence was even worse. Every fiber of Luz’s being was hyper aware of how close Amity was to her, how one wrong move could make their bodies brush together.
As she handed the taller girl one of their makeshift shot glasses–this was a drinking scene, and Skara had so kindly brought empty glass yogurt containers to use–their fingers did brush together. It took all of her willpower to not scream, biting on the inside of her cheek as she did her absolute best to hold herself together as she finished handing out the other cups.
Was it on purpose? Was it an accident? If it was on purpose, it was probably because it was very in character for the roles they were playing and the relationship between said roles.
But, again, a part of her hoped it was intentional for the sole reason of a little bit of physical contact.
The two students playing the friends in the project (Kat and Emelia?) said their lines and it was agony as Willow had to move the camera around to get the right angles, taking multiple shots of everything. Her fingers tingled where Amity had brushed against them.
She huffed as she placed it back in front, hand on her hip as she surveyed the four girls in front of her. “For this next part, Amity, I’m going to need you to laugh and put your arm around Luz. Think you can do that?”
What.
Apparently she had said that out loud, as Willow sighed, though her eyes were twinkling with mischief underneath her glasses. “We need to establish that she’s your love interest, Luz. You put your arm around me all the time, so you should be able to take it.”
With her own sigh she leaned back into the couch she was sharing and begrudgingly agreed.
Willow knew exactly what she was doing and Luz absolutely despised her for it.
Satisfied, her friend clapped her hands and went to start recording.
From her right, Luz heard Amity laugh–an incredibly melodic sound, and she was impressed she seemed to be able to do it so naturally on command. What she wasn’t prepared for was the way she shuffled closer, hips and legs touching, causing her breath to hitch. Then she felt an arm being draped around her shoulders and her crush leaned into her so her entire left side was pressed into her right.
Luz squeaked in her desperate attempt to hold back a scream.
“Cut.”
She let out a breath as she felt the arm retract, but otherwise the other girl didn’t move.
“Luz,” Willow said sternly, pinching the bridge of her nose, “your corpse going through rigor mortis impression is great, but we need you to look alive here. Your character is supposed to be into hers,” she gestured to Amity. “Again, from the top, and try to relax a little.”
The second time was just as bad, but she apparently did better as Willow made no attempt to stop them. Amity’s warmth, her soft body pressed against her was dizzying, but it felt so right. She managed to say her final lines with only a little struggle, and then her friend declared they were done.
Breathing a sigh of relief, Luz relaxed completely. Still with Amity cuddled up next to her, she only realized after the arm over her tightened a little.
The other girls got up, but she and Amity stayed seated for a second.
“I, uh, need you to let go of my hand so I can stand up,” Amity said.
Without realizing it, one of Luz’s hands had gone to grab the one on her shoulder during the filming. No wonder she had felt significantly calmer.
“Oh, oh my god.” Luz jumped up after letting go, instantly missing the warmth she had gotten accustomed to. The cold air of the library felt foreign and unwelcoming. “I am so sorry, I didn’t realize-”
“Hey,” Amity said softly, a smile gracing her lips, “I didn’t say I didn’t like it.”
Oh.
…
Wait, what?
By now, only Willow remained, the sounds of velcro and zippers behind them as she put the camera away. She slung the bag over her shoulder after slipping her coat on, and gave a salute. “Well, I’m off. You two are welcome to stay here, but I think Commons is gonna close soon if you wanted to get dinner tonight.”
With that she turned and left, sauntering out of view. Amity moved to pick up her hot pink winter jacket (very in character) and shyly turned to the only girl left. “Um, if it’s alright with you, I was wondering if you maybe wanted to get dinner together? We haven’t really gotten to talk to each other in a while.”
Her voice was soft, uncertain, and the polar opposite of half an hour ago.
She blinked, brain processing the request.
Was this a date?
No, it was probably just Amity wanting to be friends.
But then why did she sound so nervous?
“Yeah!” Luz said, clearing her throat in embarrassment at her enthusiastic response. “I-I mean, I wouldn’t mind at all.”
A wide smile lit up Amity’s face, and Luz felt her insides go warm at seeing how she was making her crush this happy. Usually the girl was… not exactly stone faced, but not very expressive. And such a happy expression, coming from knowing she got to spend time with Luz?
It made her feel special. And tingly.
As they began to walk up the basement stairs and out of the library, the shorter girl decided to push her luck and indirectly ask about what had been in the back of her mind.
“That was some really good acting.”
Amity paused. They were now outside, the winter air gently blowing through their hair. She opened her mouth, then closed it, as if pondering. After a moment, she looked at Luz, who was a few steps above her.
“What if I said it wasn’t acting?”
Luz felt her heart stop.
What?
Under the bright streetlight right beside them, the pink dusting the taller girl’s cheeks was undeniable. She was blushing.
Which meant that her wishful thinking wasn’t actually wishful thinking. And that meant-
“You…were actually flirting with me?” she found herself saying slowly, tentatively. As if somehow she was still, maybe, mistaken.
Amity nodded. “I-I was.”
Luz felt her heart resume beating and swell this time, barely believing the words she spoke. All those sweet words, the one that left her a mess, were said with meaning. Her crush of the last five or so months had been intentionally flirting with her! Her! Luz Noceda, who had struggled to even so much as make friends her whole life, let alone find someone that showed any sort of romantic interest in her.
She must’ve taken too long, been staring too long, as Amity began to stutter and backpedal. “Y-You didn’t mind it, did you? I, I’m not always the best at reading people, but I thought… I thought you might’ve been into me based on our past interactions and your body language and I like you but–” The girl groaned as she ran a hand down her face. “Oh my god, that might've just been you being uncomfortable around me!”
“No!” Luz found herself nearly shouting, startling her crush. “No,” she repeated, tugging off her beanie and running her hand through the long, curly hair that fell out of it. The cold winter air pricked at her exposed scalp, but she paid no mind to it. “I loved it! I just, I just wasn’t sure if you were just a really good actor or actually, genuinely flirting with me and I didn’t want to get my hopes up and…” she trailed off, eyes narrowing and then widening as she processed some of her words.
“Wait,” she breathed, scrambling down the steps and clinging onto Amity’s arms as if her life depended on it. They flexed at the sudden contact and Luz found herself momentarily flustered at the amount of muscle she could feel through her puffy winter jacket. She shook it off; there was time to think about that later.
“You, you like me? As in like like, like you have a crush on me kind of like?” Luz whispered, eyes beaming.
Amity gulped. Out of the corner of her eye the smaller girl could see how her throat bobbed, but her gaze held fast to those pretty brown eyes. Unwavering.
“Yes, I do have a crush on you.”
Luz found herself taken aback by the unexpected return of her confident, flirty demeanor. But by no means was she upset, as her words and the way her voice lowered ever so slightly turned her insides to mush. If only she’d say her name like that again.
“And judging by your reaction, I think it’s pretty safe to assume that I was correct in thinking you liked me, right, Luz? ”
Holy shit.
Speechless and burning up, she nodded, the only sound she could make a squeak in the back of her throat.
Amity looked at her for a second and then burst into laughter. “Sorry,” she apologized, wiping an eye, “I noticed earlier that you seemed to really like when I said your name, and I couldn’t help myself. You’re too cute,” she giggled.
She leaned forward and Luz couldn’t tell what for until she felt her warm breath on the side of her face and then-
Amity’s lips were pressed against her cheek. Amity’s warm, soft, gentle lips were kissing her cheek. She had to contort her body and tilt her head quite a bit to achieve an angle she was able to reach her because of their ridiculous height difference. But she was able to manage and as a result holy shit Amity was kissing Luz on the cheek with her mouth.
Had the taller girl not been holding onto her for her own support, Luz would have simply crumpled to the ground.
The kiss lasted maybe all of two seconds, leaving a tingling sensation in its absence. Her crush took her sweet time pulling away and straightening herself back out. When she did finally return to close to her full height, she looked down at Luz, eyes filled with such a tender, loving look that the girl couldn’t help but decide she was going to do something perhaps a bit rash.
“Ah, fuck, I probably should’ve asked you if it was okay to kiss you before I went and did anything, I’m so-”
“Catch me.”
With that Luz used all her strength to jump up, hands fumbling for Amity’s shoulders and grasping them as best she could. Meanwhile, Amity’s hands darted to catch her, the sudden weight crashing against her torso sending her stumbling back and it was a wonder that she didn’t lose her footing and send them both straight to the cold concrete below.
Luz gave her just a second to make sure they stayed upright before bringing her face closer, noses an inch apart, breath warm on each other’s faces. “Sorry, I’m too short to do this otherwise.”
Amity’s eyes widened in realization in the fraction of a second before Luz captured her mouth with her own.
It was quite literally everything Luz had imagined, in the dozens upon dozens of times she’d daydreamed about kissing the pretty purple haired girl, except even better because it was actually tangible. She could feel just how warm and soft Amity’s lips were directly on her own, how her fingers dug into her legs as she held her up, how soft the hair tangled underneath one of her hands was.
Pure bliss.
She let go after a few seconds (impressed with herself for managing to land squarely on her lips), eyes shining as she took in her (reciprocated!) crush’s stunned expression. From this close, she could see the scattering of freckles across her cheeks, heavier on the right side of her face than the left, and the way there seemed to be streaks of gold in her irises.
As much as she wanted to stay up there, to stay eye level with the drop dead gorgeous girl in front of her, she could tell that Amity was struggling to hold her up. Her hands had caught her at a weird angle due to having zero warning and were no doubt cramping like hell.
Luz wiggled as she tried to get out of her grasp, ready to drop back down, but Amity helped lower her. Probably a good idea because wow, that was actually quite a large distance between her feet and the ground. Now safely back down, Luz looked up at the girl, trying her hardest to smirk. Her giddiness overtook her and she was left with a big, dopey smile instead. “Consider us even.”
Amity was the same shade as a tomato. She laughed, brushing stray strands of hair out of her face. “You could’ve just climbed up on the steps right behind us, you know.”
Flushing–this time from embarrassment–Luz averted her gaze.”I may not be the smartest all the time,” she admitted, “you tend to turn my brain to mush.”
One of Amity’s hands found hers and gently held it, the long, slender fingers wrapping around her palm. “Luz,” she said gently, all flirtiness from earlier gone from her voice, “do you want to go out with me?”
“I think you know the answer, but I’ll humor you and say it anyway: absolutely. Though I wish you would’ve taken me to dinner or something first,” she teased. “Wait,” she slapped her face with her hand, “that was literally what we were going before we stopped. Never mind, that was stupid.”
The other girl just bent down to pick something up–Luz’s beanie, which must've fallen out of her hand when she literally threw herself at Amity. She appreciated that she wasn’t being made fun of for her less than clever comment.
“Girlfriend,” Amity hummed, running a finger along the edge of the hat, “we’re girlfriends now. I like the sound of that.”
Luz opened her mouth to agree, but Amity chose right then to put the beanie on top of her head. “You should keep that on. You look good in purple.”