If people found out that someone went on a dating site just so they could find a friend, then they would think that individual was insane. But what about the person who actually accepts the request typed out in their status?
Luz thinks that is crazier.
Yet, here she was, sitting inside Starbucks, with fingers nervously tapping on the edge of the polished, wooden table. She chewed on her lower lip, brows furrowed in concentration as she stared down at her phone. No one actually took her seriously, right?
Well, apparently someone did.
‘Amity B. would like to connect with you.’
“Well, holy hell, this is swell, isn’t it?” Luz muttered under her breath and rolled her eyes at herself. She ran her hand through brown locks and swallowed the lump that formed inside her throat. She had never been good with people-depending on the person, she would either be a chatterbox or the usual, social anxious kid that she was.
Luz grabbed the venti, white chocolate mocha and took a huge gulp. She felt giddy. The woman silently cursed herself, knowing that the reason she was trying to find a friend was because she also drank coffee at that time. Luz did not think there were actually takers.
She made her profile a few weeks ago, and it was days after, when Luz found it absolutely abstruse that a floating window popped right in front of her face, saying that this Amity B. wanted to chat with her. Luz was again reminded of how profound (not) her knowledge was on hooking up, dating or just being friendly.
Luz’s heartbeat was erratic. She glanced at her watch. 9:58 a.m. ‘Take a deep breath,’ was a mantra she had been chanting in her mind repetitively for the past thirty minutes. She squinted at the picture she had clicked on the mysterious girl’s profile. It was a dorky photo of her face, with eyes closed and rosy lips forming a toothy-why were the sides so sharp?- smile. Her chestnut, brown hair (the Dominican girl assumed from the roots), was dyed green, and was a length that did not reach past her shoulders; she looked young. At first, Luz rejected the invitation until her soon-to-be friend assured her that she just has not updated her display picture in years (which she then corrected later that her siblings were the one who made the profile when she was sixteen and only started using it recently).
She closed her eyes for a second, mind suddenly filled with wonders of how her soon-to-be friend’s chiseled good looks had turned even more sculpted in those two years, Luz’s eyebrow twitching in frustration. None of it was helping Luz’s self-esteem. If that person looked that good in a two-year old photo, just imagine how blessed her genes are right now-
“Luz?”
Her eyes fluttered open and Luz felt as if all the words she had filled in her mental dictionary had been sucked out dry. Every thought flew out of the window because the real deal was so, so, so much more than her thoughts could ever have come up with. That is to say, in all her life, there were only sporadic moments where Luz claimed she was not ready to face something. This one was on a different level of not being ready.
‘Because holy sh*t’ as soon as she laid her eyes on the woman that sat down on the chair in front of her, the alarms had already started ringing in Luz’s ears. The stranger’s green hair was messier in person, locks cascaded on both shoulders which reached her chest; such a contrast from her display picture where she had shoulder-length hair. She still had the same half-tied ponytail, and Azura’s staff-when Luz reached the stranger’s face, she felt her heart almost stop.
She wanted to cry because the girl-Amity-was too beautiful beyond description. But Luz would be damned if she did not try to describe her with all the available vocabularies.
Feline-like eyes greeted her, almost golden, making Luz’s brown orbs duller in comparison. There was a kind of mischief etched on her face and red dusted Luz’s cheeks as soon as her eyes trailed down to the stranger’s lips; which jutted out into a natural pout. She sported a simple pink dress, coupled with a fitting black choker on her neck and sharp bracelets on both arms. Amity looked like one of those goth punk girls who could punch Luz’s lights out.
Brilliant, Luz. Go pun your own name some more.
‘I was just looking for a friend-why does she look like my ideal type instead?!’ Luz cried back to her consciousness. She blinked when Amity waved her hand as if to say, “Hello.” The former just stared at her. Her thoughts were all thinly strung up and tangled into a hot mess. She could feel the appeal emanating from her supposed friend and it was going to drive Luz to the edge of malfunctioning (if she were not already.)
“You’re hired.”
Amity stared at her with a puzzled expression. “I’m…sorry, what?” There was an incredulous look on her face, mixed with a high-pitched tone that was heavily dripping with amusement. She was definitely an enigma; because she looked like everything Luz had wanted in a person but had the voice Luz did not expect.
“We’re friends, from now on.” Underneath the table, Luz had to stop her hands from trembling. Her face flushed red when the woman just stared at her while she herself avoided gazing back.
“To clarify,” Amity started slowly, voice still a bit higher than Luz’s usual taste, “We’re starting off as friends, right?” She tilted her head to the right in wonder and Luz had just noticed how pale her skin was- God, how can it look so fitting and attractive on one person?
Luz concluded that Divine Providence had favorites.
“What?” This time, Luz looked at her in shock.
Amity stared back with a scrunched-up face, lips parted slightly to show that both of them most definitely, in its entirety, misunderstood everything. Luz blinked. She breathed in the scent of coffee before her hands moved animatedly, “I-I was just looking for a coffee buddy online, perhaps we’ve seen things wrongly?”
“You were looking for a what?”
This was the nth time they’ve said that word.
“A friend.”
“…In a dating app?”
Luz assumed the unreadable expression on Amity’s face was of deep regret that she had accepted something she should not have. “Yeah.” The answer to the question did sound foolish when it hit her.
What she did not think would happen, was Amity bursting out into laughter. Luz’s eye twitched as she felt the beating of her heart pounding against her ribcage. Amity tucked a strand of brown behind her ear, eyes twinkling with mischief as a lopsided smile found its way onto her lips.
“Okay, I already like you.”
“Wha-You’re not supposed to say that!”
This was a grueling situation especially since Luz did not specifically liked putting herself in these kinds of events. She was a girl, yes, but not a feminine one. Having someone straight up say they like you made her brain short-circuit. It was not what she was used to. She was the one who should be making people blush, this was not what she imagined their meeting to be-
“Why not? You’re cute.”
“We’re supposed to be friends.”
“Why can’t friends think you’re cute?”
Luz stayed mummed. She could create a logical argument that would justify her words and make it sound reasonable like for one, they both were not straight as aforementioned, two, Amity did not look anything like heaven. She looked like the owner of Hell, with how warm she was making Luz feel along with obviously, her looks.
Talking with pretty girls who could make her stutter and bring out her awkward self was not what Luz preferred.
“I’m not supposed to feel so girly.” She murmured. Amity seemed to have heard as Luz could see a ghostly smile being restrained when her companion puckered her lips to keep it from showing.
“If you try me, you’d see that even salt would be crawling with ants with how sweet we’ll be.”
Amity relaxed into her seat, probably thrilled that Luz was a stuttering disarrangement in front of her. Luz buried her face in the palms of her hands, ears still hot.
“I mean-Can we like-I-”
She had not stuttered like this since the last time she had a crush on someone and that was four years ago. Luz would not blame Amity if she decided to think the taller girl was weird then get up and leave. She looked so sophisticated, calm, and calculative. The complete opposite of Luz.
“Yeah?” Her voice wasn’t mocking her nor did it sound like she was teasing. Instead, she looked sincerely concerned that she had made Luz uncomfortable. “I’m sorry, am I coming off strongly?”
Luz would not say she was. It felt more like the roles just switched and she had never really encountered an enigma such as Amity. She let out a sigh before covering it up with a chuckle.
“I’m sorry if I made you feel some sort of discomfort. I didn’t mean to.”
Amity patiently waited for her answer and Luz would not deny it if people would tell her she can be pretty observant. She would not personally claim that she could accurately describe what kind of person she was talking to, no matter what other people perceive them to be. Amity may have her game up, but she also knew when to bring it down.
Luz opened her mouth, twisting the band that embraced her other finger. “I mean…Yeah, friends and then-then, uh, yeah! Maybemorethanthat.” She spoke so fast that it did not matter if Amity heard it or not, Luz didn’t want to repeat that.
Silence made itself comfortable between them though it did not take long before Amity’s lips broke into a wide, radiant grin. “You like me too, don’t you?”
“I’m not going to answer that.”
“That’s already an answer though.” She looked triumphant, as she puffed out her chest and stared at Luz pointedly. “You have a crush on me.”
“No, I don’t.”
“That’s not fun. Don’t lie.”
“I’m not going to comment on that.”
This was unfair. Amity peered at her, eyes lingering longer than it should have. The tension seemed to rise when Luz decided to be braver than usual and stare back, plastering a practiced smile on her face.
“You know what? I’ll buy you coffee.” Before her newfound friend could protest, Luz already got up and went to the counter which startled Amity. “How can you buy something for a person you just met?” Luz assumed that was what was running through Amity’s mind that moment.
But see here, how can you not buy something for someone you’ve suddenly been stricken with?
“Your name-” That was the first thing Luz uttered as soon as she bought Java Chip and set it in front of Amity who looked as if she was going to reject it. “What about my name?” A sigh left her mouth before she accepted defeat and drank the coffee. But Luz could tell that her companion had tensed up from the question.
“Is it your real name or can I call you something else?”
Amity thought for a moment. Luz found herself in a daze as soon as her eyes trailed down the other girl’s face when the latter bit on her lower lip. She momentarily caught herself when Amity coughed and raised a brow at her.
“You do know I notice what you’re doing right?”
“You mean waiting for you to answer? Yep.”
“Mhmm.”
The subject of Luz’s mental research stretched out her arms. There was nothing but eye contacts and thick tension between the two. Luz dreaded the fact that her respectful nature seemed to dwindle and fade in front of this woman oozing with the appeal that apparently was just her type.
“Blight. My name is Amity Blight.”
“Ah-mitea?” Luz meant it as a joke, out of sheer nervousness.
Amity looked surprised. She blew a stray hair out of her perfectly sculpted face before she shook her head.
“No. Don’t say it like that.” Amity emphasized on the pronunciation as if she was already exhausted of explaining how complicated her name was to strangers. Her demeanor showed that she seemed tired, the protruding statement giving Luz an inkling of how it hid more than just a wrongly spoken name. She shrugged it off before sipping her own coffee. It had gotten colder.
“Thank you.”
They were simple words nonchalantly said that if she weren’t listening carefully, she would have probably missed the quick tone of immense gratitude behind the still, small voice.
“Thank you.”
They spoke of small topics like their hobbies, likes and dislikes. But Luz believed that the foundation of a relevant relationship started with the simple things that other people would not have believed to be important enough to treasure. She saw the way Amity’s expressions and tone would change wholly for one topic and the other. She realized how different their personalities were yet, they fell in love with the same art, the same shows and much more. She even liked Azura for Pete’s sake! Where else can you find a girl more amazing than that?
Luz thought they hit it off so well because Amity could easily build rapport as if she had done this a million times with other people. She couldn’t help but feel proud of someone else’s trait that she couldn’t afford to.
“Hey, Amity?”
“Hm?”
“Maybe we could take it slow.”
Luz did not notice it the first time; but when Amity snorted and chortled, it sounded like a melody that Luz could interlace with her own tune, just like how higher tones needed lower ones to completely bring it to life.
‘Pretty.’
“Luz.”
“Hm?”
“Want to go to the bathroom together?”
Luz scoffed at the way Amity wiggled her brows and winked. The suggestive statement made Luz want to laugh.
“Maybe next time.”
If people found out that someone just went on a dating site just to find a friend, they’d think that person was insane. But the person who accepts the friend request was even crazier.
However, staying sane was never one of Luz’s good points to begin with; because where else will you find someone as crazy as you, if not more?