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Handling a bad day in college is something she should already be used to. Bad hours, bad teachers, hell, even bad coffee because Boscha had decided that the normal kind from the supermarket wasn’t ‘stylish’ enough and she had to buy that weird Croatian brand from the luxury department store next to the mall.
“Organic my foot,” Amity thought as she walked into the only coffee shop opened at four a.m. that was close to her campus. She grimaced when she saw the old lady behind the bar, she looked ready to kill her, but between dealing with a–understandably-grumpy barista and having to face AP History without coffee…
Not much of a choice.
“Good morning,” she said, getting closer. Can I have an Americano, please?”
The woman nodded and gave her a ticket, “Five minutes.” Amity frowned, the woman chuckled. “Sorry, but the machine’s warming up.”
With a sigh, Amity turned to the tables, and almost jumped at seeing the woman sitting on the small booth next to the bar, she hadn't noticed her from the entrance. She was reading a book, half a sandwich on a plate next to her as she scribbled notes on a notebook.
Now, Amity wasn’t a person who stared, she couldn’t be bothered, too much to do, but at the moment, with the rare five minutes to kill, she… indulge a little.
Why? Well, because the girl was pretty.
Unlike her, who had decided Autum was worthy of a windbreaker and thick pants, this girl sat in a light jacket and joggers. The piercing in her ears, all black and pointy, made her seem dangerous, but the way she stuck her tongue out her lips as she apparently struggled with a word took away any danger from her expression.
“All done,” the barista called and Amity jumped a little before turning towards her, “one, sixty.”
Amity nodded and got the money out before grabbing her coffee and shuffling out of the store, cold wind striking her cheeks as she stepped out, helping her calm down.
She never thought herself the kind to be messmeraized by a stranger, but well, the more you know, right?
Not like she’d see her again.
***
Fate had a strange way to toy with her, honestly.
When her mother called and informed her of her siblings' visit, Amity was sure her week was ruined. She may love Edric and Emira, but she had moved out of the family home with her friends for a reason, well, multiple reasons, and the twins were obviously part of those.
She had managed to escape their interrogation about her social life last night, but she wasn’t sure she’d be able to do so on a Sunday morning, so, she did the only sensible thing you could when a person was invading her apartment.
She ran away.
Now, snow covering the streets and her scarf giving her an itch that was making her reevaluate her life choices, Amity found herself in front of that coffee shop again. This time, she took a moment to appreciate the weird Owl drawing that covered the glass doot, over it, the name “The Owl House” read in gloden letters. She walked in and found more people than she could’ve expected.
Two men were playing cards on a table at the far end, both of them with cake to the side. The Music teacher from the Arts department from her Uni was sitting on the far end, earbuds and a cup of tea resting in front of them as they moved their head sleepily to the music. She even saw a guy clearly sleep-deprived carving something out of a piece of wood like a madman.
The barista didn’t smile as she approached, but she did look more approachable than last time a few months ago, maybe because it wasn’t as early. “What can I get ya?”
Amity took a look at the options, stopping at a particular one that made her raise an eyebrow. “What’s an ‘Undetermined seasonal bomb’?”
“Oh, that,” the woman chuckled, “my kid came up with the name, it’s pumpkin spice latte with a twist.”
“Hard to imagine what it could be.”
“Kinda the point, it is good, tho.”
Amity nodded. “I’ll have a normal latte, please.”
“Coming right up,” the barista-Eda, Amity finally saw the nametag-said, and handed her a ticket like last time.
Amity turned to the side, ready to take a seat when she noticed the girl from last time, she was in the same both, hidden from sight unless you were next to it. She was wearing a sweater and thick jeans this time, her piercing still in the same spot, obviously, but today she wasn’t working on anything, yet, she was still reading a book.
Not any book, though.
Amity’s eyes widened when she saw the title, ‘The Good Witch Azura’, her favourite book, the one her mother called ridiculously wordy and poorly written. The one Boscha still made fun of when Amity tried to read in her room, the one that had pushed her through Junior year when she saw her crush dating someone else. Amity was stunned, so much that she didn’t really remember when Eda gave her her latte and how much she left as a tip, nor did she care.
She only cared about how in the world this gorgeous woman was reading her favourite book.
Now, of all things that could creep anyone out, getting approached by a stranger at who knows what time in the morning, would have to be pretty high up in the list, but Amity just couldn’t-shouldn’t, really-let the chance pass to talk to someone about the book, could she?
The woman hadn’t noticed her yet, she could walk out, forget that this pretty person was reading a book she hadn’t, in fourteen years, found another person who liked, and just go back to dealing with her siblings for another three days…
Or, she could talk to her, and see where things went from there.
Working up the courage wasn’t as cool as books or movies made it out to be, she was nervous, talking to herself in her head trying to think of any scenarios where she talked to her and the world didn’t end, and it actually worked, stopping her paranoia at a simple scenario where the woman threw coffee at her.
A manageable humiliation.
Amity cleared her throat, walking until she was standing next to the woman’s table, from up close, she noticed that her sweater had coffee stain on the sleeves, the socks that peaked from between her pants and shoes were mismatched and from her belt hanged a little otter’s doll holding a shiny rock, oh, and she also noticed the little scar that went thought her eyebrow and, oh fuck, she was way prettier than she seemed from afar.
“Don’t fuck this up, don’t fuck this up, don’t fuck this up, ” She repeated mentally and, “Heeeeeeeeeeeeyyyyyyyy.”
God, kill her now.
The woman jumped a little and looked up, her eyes widening when she made eye contact with Amity, and she blushed, making her even prettier than she was. “....Hello?”
“Sorry, I just…” Amity bit her lip, counting mentally how many slaps she’d have to give herself to live off this embarrassment. “I couldn’t help but notice, are you reading ‘The Good Witch Azura’? I… I love those books.”
The way the woman’s face went from confusion to bewilderment and then joy made Amity’s heart do that little thing where it summersaulted straight into her lungs and cut out any air to her brain.
She later learned that the pretty woman’s name was Luz, that she went to an art school two blocks from Amity’s apartment and she stayed on the spare room Eda had on the second floor of the shop.
She gave Amity her number and made a joke about how she got up really early thanks to her mom making sure she never slept in during school. Amity laughed even when it wasn’t all that funny, and by the time she got back to her apartment, Edric and Emira were out with Boscha and Skara doing who knows what, which let Amity fall on her bed, looking at Luz’s number in her phone as she giggled.
***
Little things mattered more than Amity thought, like, a lot more.
Like how Luz made sure to get her seat at the booth she always sat at before calling her, or how she shared those cookies her mother had taught her how to bake back when she was fifteen. Amity started to like those little things, the subtle way Luz played footsie with her when they were too tired to properly study, or how she threw weird looks at Eda when the woman commented on their meet-ups to go for a walk during the weekends.
Luz was a touch person, and while Amity liked it, it was driving her a little insane.
She wasn’t used to physical contact, growing up with a posh mom and an absent dad; would make that to you, even more so when the only times your sibling hugged you while growing up was for a prank or to help you dye your hair.
The twins loved her lots, but they really could do with some classes in ‘comforting’ their little sister.
Luz on the other hand, didn’t seem to be able to keep to herself.
She grabbed Amity’s hand or wrist to drag her places, she’d put her arm around her back to make sure they wouldn’t get separated in crowds, and she hugged her whenever they met up, just like now when she got inside ‘The Owl House’.
It all started when Luz and Amity started talking only about the books, what their favourite characters were, ships, and even some of the fanfiction they had written before, but it all stuck to the books, mostly. Then it evolved into them talking about their classes, and how Luz was struggling with portraits, mostly because she couldn’t focus on drawing her partner when she was all nervous about how they were drawing her.
So Amity had volunteered to help her practice, which, in hindsight, wasn’t her brightest idea.
Why?
Because it had been two hours already, Luz was staring at her face in that both at Eda’s shop, sketching and erasing something every now and then, all while Amity tried-and failed-to study for her next test.
“Sorry,” Luz said after tearing the drawing off the sketchbook and starting again. “It wasn’t supposed to last this long.”
“Hey, it’s okay,” Amity lied, because it was not okay to have the woman you are currently crushing on staring at you for a prolonged time, at least, it wasn’t helping her heart. “Why do you struggle so much with this, tho? You don’t seem like the type to get nervous.”
That, or she didn’t look at Amity the same way Amity looked at her, but well, that was a depressing thought, so she tried to avoid it.
Luz’s hands stopped and she just… stared at her sketchbook for a while, she didn’t say anything and continued drawing. Amity bit her lip, sure she had messed up somehow. She refocused on her book, beating herself up in her head.
“... People’s eyes are scary,” Luz said after a while, so low that it would barely count as a whisper, “they aren’t curious, they don’t care about you… they just care if you fit in or not.”
Luz didn't speak after that, she just kept sketching, Amity wasn’t sure about what to say, so she didn’t say anything at all, by the time Luz was done, it was already time for lunch. Amity was about to leave when Luz reached out and grabbed her hand.
“Hey, do you wanna eat?” she asked, all calm and smiley, like the tension they had shared before was a hallucination.
Amity smiled, twisting her hand to hold Luz’s back. “I’d love to.”
Luz would tell her what that was about another time, hopefully.
***
When the finals were approaching, Amity had to make some tough decisions that she really, really hated.
She compromised with Boscha and Skara to let them do parties in the apartment as long as they kept her door shut and didn’t try to get her to meet their ‘new friends’ and bought her the new noise cancelling headphones she couldn’t afford on her own. She started to stay behind during lectures to ask questions to her teachers, which usually transformed into hour-long conversations she would’ve loved to avoid, and she even started eating instant food again because she couldn’t be bothered to cook.
But the toughest decision she had to make was to cut back on her time with Luz.
It had started with a few last-minute cancellations to meet up and talk, and it had evolved into weeks of no contact with her because she was either studying or studying harder in her room. She was sure Luz was mad at her by now, which didn’t help her get the courage to actually text her.
And that Saturday, when Amity thought she could catch up with some overdue assignments, she had to cancel yet another meet up with Luz, leaving it at a simple text with a flimsy excuse and a ‘sorry, I’ll make it up to you’ before burying herself in her work.
She felt a sharp pain on her side and turned to find Boscha glaring at her.
Amity took off her noise cancelling headphones, glaring right back. “What the fuck is wrong with you?”
“Some girl named Luz is looking for you,” Boscha said, rubbing her temples, “go talk to her before I bash your head in and you have to feel like I do.”
“It’s not my fault you have a hangover.”
“But it is your fault that some hottie is banging on the door on a Saturday morning when I am,” Boscha replied smoothly, giving her a side eye, “what kind of game do you have with those eyebags and stupid pajamas to get a girl like that? Seriously…?”
Amity didn’t dignify that comment with a reply, she simply changed out of her cat pajamas and talked out of her room. She saw Luz in a tank top, high waist jean shorts, and thigh highs that made her regret only throwing on her loungewear. She seriously considered running back into her room and changing but Luz caught her before she could take even one step.
“Hey there,” she said with a smile, showing her a paper bag with an Owl drawn and two disposable coffee cups in the other.
“What are you doing here?”
“Ouch,” Luz said, acting like she had hit her, but never stopped smiling, “not even a hello?”
“Right, hello, sorry… I… I’m not thinking straight,” Amity said, and the irony of how true that was in more than one sense would’ve made her laugh at any other time.
Luz nodded and got closer, she was wearing perfume, damn it. “I figured, when I texted you, you sent like five typos.”
“Really?”
“Nope,” Luz sang the word, “but made you look. Anyway, I thought you could use a break.”
Amity looked at the bag in her hand and then at the gorgeous woman that had decided that she was worth waking up early on a Saturday morning and bringing breakfast to a building clearly out of her way.
“You okay?” Luz asked, getting closer to her face.
And Amity wasn’t sure how it happened, she only knew that next moment, her lips were on Luz’s, her hands holding her close and the taste of pumpkin spice invading her senses.
She wasn’t sure how long they stayed like that, but by the time she pulled away, Luz's eyes were unfocused, the coffee and the bag rested on a drawer that was conveniently close and her hands were on Amity’s waist and back.
“... Sorry,” Amity whispered, trying to hard to ignore the flash of Boscha’s and Skara’s phones as they took pictures from the doors to their rooms.
“Please don’t be,” Luz said back, smiling, “Had I known bringing you coffee home was all it took, I’d have done it months ago.”