Luz awoke from a very interesting dream. She had kissed Amity in said dream. When she awoke, she felt disgusted with herself.
Grooooossss... she thought.
It had been only one day since she encountered Amity on the path. She hadn't seen her since. But that dream was... not a nightmare. Luz imagined Amity's lips tasting like... the rose lemonade? But she didn't want to think about it any longer. And Amity probably didn't have any more lemons—or roses—anyway.
Luz had looked in the mirror that morning, surprised to see that her hair was less messy than usual. Cool, cool. But... it was hard to stop thinking about how she felt. About Amity, that was. She had honestly been disappointed when she had woken up. Interesting. Oh, and whenever she saw Amity, she felt her stomach do a flopping thing. Like it turned over. She sort of loved that feeling. But also told herself not to feel it. What if Amity didn't like her back?
And there it was. The big "what if".
It was like Luz's mine had flipped a panic switch as soon as the thought came. What if she doesn't feel the same? What if she does, but it turns out that I actually don't? What if—
Luz heard a knock on her door.
"Hey, Luz!" Amity waved as soon as the door was open.
"Hey, Amity! Come in." Luz said.
Amity kicked the snow off her boots and stepped inside.
"What brings you here?" Luz asked.
"Well, it's Christmas Eve..." Amity explained, hoping Luz would catch on.
How had Luz not realized? She hadn't even gotten a present for Amity!
"I completely forgot." She said blatantly.
Amity laughed, "It's fine." She handed Luz a small package. "I'll come over tomorrow. Don't open it until then."
"Will do—I mean, won't do." Luz said.
Amity smiled. "See you tomorrow."
Luz waved as Amity stepped out the door.
Once she was gone, Luz sighed and flopped onto the couch. Why, oh why did she have to say it like that?
She felt her face heat up. How could talking to Amity be so hard? Suddenly, there was another knock on her door. She groaned and got up to open it.
"Willow? Gus?" She asked.
There stood a fluffy, blue haired girl beside a smirking shorter boy.
"Hey, Luz!" Gus said. "Long time, no see."
"Yeah, it's so good to see you guys!" She said, launching herself onto the both of them.
She wrapped her arms around both of them and hugged them tightly. She waved them inside and they took their shoes off as they walked in.
"I just realized that we haven't seen your house yet!" Willow exclaimed.
"Oh, yeah. Want me to show you around while we can catch up?" Luz asked.
"That sounds great!" Gus jumped in.
So Luz took them on a small tour of her small house.
"How have you been?" Willow asked as they walked.
"Good. This new girl named Amity moved in recently, so it hasn't been too lonely." Luz explained.
"What's she like?" Gus asked.
"Well... she's smart, cool, and classy." Luz started.
Willow raised her eyebrows.
"She has really cool hair. She's like a cotton candy haired goddess!" Luz said.
Gus grinned, "Do you like her?"
Luz turned all the way red. "No way! It's not like that!"
"I can tell that you're lying." Willow said.
Luz sighed. "Yeah, I kinda do like her."
Gus and Willow gasped at the same time.
"Guys! Stay cool!" Luz reminded them.
Willow giggled and Gus gave her a sly grin.
"Stop looking at me like that." Luz said, blushing way harder than she intended to.
Willow and Gus looked at each other instead, clearly formulating a plan.
"What's with those faces?" Luz asked.
"Well," Gus explained, "this time of year, mistletoe is very festive—"
"Nope! Absolutely not." Luz clasped her hand over Gus's mouth.
"But you will tell her, right?" Willow asked.
"I don't know. What if she doesn't like me back?"
"Nooo!" Gus complained. "This is what they say in all the cheesy movies!"
"Gus, you're so immature." Willow laughed.
"Just stating the facts!" He defended.
"Guys!" Luz groaned.
"Sorry, sorry!" They said in unison, both laughing.
"So..." Luz started, smiling suspiciously, "how's it going with Hunter?"
Willow's cheeks turned as pink as the flowers printed on her shoes.
"Ohhh! She got you there!" Gus laughed.
"Quiet, Gus!" Willow shielded her face with her poofy braids.
"So, Luz... Willow told me that—"
Willow let go of her braids to put Gus in a headlock. Gus continued anyway.
"She gave Hunter some flowers or something, and then they, like, kissed." He made some obnoxious smooching noises.
Luz's jaw dropped. If she were a cartoon character, there would be a bajillion sparkles in her eyes.
Willow rustled Gus's hair—though it had little effect—and continued walking beside Luz. They arrived back at the living room and sat down.
"I don't know what I'll do, to be honest." Luz admitted. "Amity probably doesn't even like me that way."
"We'll be the judge of that!" Gus declared. "We're sleeping over!"
"Really?" Luz asked.
"If it's fine with you, it's fine with me." Willow said.
"Sure, that's fine." Luz agreed.
"YES! YES, YES, YES!" Gus cheered, pumping his fists in the air.
"She's coming over tomorrow." Luz explained, "For Christmas."
Willow and Gus nodded, leaning in. They seemed eager to hear more.
"That's... it, I think." Luz said.
"Well, I wish you good luck!" Willow said.
"I believe in you!" Gus exclaimed.
"Thanks, guys." Luz said.
"Now, take us around your neighborhood!" Gus demanded.
"I'd hardly call it a neighborhood, but sure!" Luz said.
"This is the bunny field." Luz said as they arrived at their first destination. She remembered this as the place where she had first met Amity. The duck pond was frozen over.
Gus gasped for air.
"We weren't even walking that much." Willow said.
"Easy for you to say! You're the team captain—"
"I notice there's no bunnies." Willow interrupted.
"Yeah, they're hibernating." Luz said.
She could have sworn she heard Gus mutter "amateurs".
"This is the winterberry patch." Luz said as they came near the now frozen bushes.
"I don't see any leaves." Gus observed.
"Yeah, it turns out they don't grow leaves in winter. Amity knows all about them. In fact, she had to help me make a pie with them since they're not good to eat raw." Luz said.
Gus nodded and Willow kept staring at the bushes, clearly fascinated.
"Actually, I'm getting sort of cold." Gus said, "We should go back."
"I agree. I did not bring good clothes for this." Willow pointed to her thin jacket and soggy, fuzzy boots.
"I didn't even realize! I would have given you a coat!" Luz exclaimed.
"It's fine, it would not have worked anyway." Willow glanced at Luz, and then herself.
Not understanding, Luz led them back to her house.
"Aha! Warmth!" Gus cheered.
Willow removed her jacket and hung it on one of the hooks on the coat rack.
Luz went to the kitchen and made some hot chocolate for her and her two friends. She made sure to grab the lactose free one for her.
They all happily drank it. Gus was done first, of course. He went and started touching all the plants, shuddering at some of them.
Luz had needed to put heat lamps over some of the plants. Some of them needed the heat. Only on a low setting, of course. She was not very good at taking care of plants, but she liked them and she tried her best.
Luz finished her chocolate before Willow. She followed Gus to the plants. He had finished touching each and every plant. He was now staring out the window at the snowfall.
"Oh, it's snowing." Luz observed.
"What if we went outside?" Gus wondered aloud.
"Willow doesn't have a coat, remember? But you can try. I'd watch you."
Gus nodded and quickly put on his coat and boots. He didn't bother to ask for snow pants, which Luz wouldn't have been able to stand. But Gus didn't mind. He ran outside and looked through the window. Luz waved at him, he waved back. She got scared half to death when he jumped into the snow. Willow walked over and stood next to Luz, seemingly finished with the chocolate.
"Sorry for this," Willow said, "not bringing a coat. Where Gus and I live, there's never snow. So I don't own a coat."
"It's fine! Don't worry about it!" Luz said. But then, she made a realization.
She didn't have any presents for Gus and Willow. She would have to go and get some.
"I have to go somewhere real quick. I'll be back." She said, rushing to get her coat and bike.
"Where could you possibly be going with a bike in winter?" Willow called.
"Don't worry! I'll be back soon!" Luz called as she ran her bike out the door. She hopped on the light yellow bike and began pedaling. Luckily, there was no ice underneath the snow (which only went up about two inches). Snow got caught in her eyelashes and hair. This was very important.
But then, after a few minutes, she saw something through the snowy air. She was going too fast. She swerved.
"HOLY MOTHER OF FLAPJACK!" She screamed as she tumbled off of her bike and into the snow.
"Are you okay?" A pale hand reached toward her. She, being in a daze, didn't recognize it.
She allowed herself to be helped up. She wobbled at first, but then focused.
"Amity?"
★ Author's Note ★
Sorry this took some time to write. I'm sort of talking to myself because literally no one has ever commented. Thank you for reading! Chapter 8 is hopefully coming soon.