I've Been Looking for You

She was just standing there a blank look on her face, was it shock, disgust, anger? Amity couldn’t breathe as she waited for Luz to react, to say something, anything.
“Amity?” Her voice cracked, along with the witches heart. The adult in the room glanced between them, then slipped out of the room, touching Luz’s shoulder gently before excusing herself.
They were both crying, both silent. The stillness in the room was almost too much for Amity.
Amity took a hesitant step forward reaching toward the other girl, “Luz I-,” but before she could get another word out Luz closed the space between them and enveloped Amity in a tight hug.
Amity stood frozen, unsure of what to do, but eventually gave into instinct, wrapping her arms around Luz burying her head in the other girl's neck. Damn she’s tall. Amity smiled to herself, they fit together perfectly, Luz’s chin resting on the witches head, Amity’s arms swung tightly around her waist.
“I’ve been looking for you.” Amity whispered into Luz’s neck. In turn the other girl stiffened pulling back.
“Amity I’m so sorry, I shouldn't have left like that, it was so stupid.” Amity let go of Luz, but the other girl held onto her hands. The witch frowned, a million questions on the tip of her tongue.
“Why did you leave?” Was the one that came out first. Luz looked down a light blush lighting up her dark skin. She honestly looked ashamed. Amity sensed what she was about to do and knew it was a bad idea, but she did it anyway. Lifting a shaking hand she cupped Luz’s face, forcing the other girls attention back to her. Luz's smile was enough to melt Amity’s heart. But then her face fell again and she opened her mouth to respond to Amity’s question.
“Amity… Ami, I just-” her sentence was interrupted by a shrill ringing coming from Luz’s jacket. The human looked down seeming just as shocked as Amity.
“Shoot.” Luz groaned, pulling her phone out of her pocket. She stepped away from Amity, leaving the witch feeling cold. She pressed the screen and the ringing stopped. A few seconds later she was typing furiously, walking in circles around the kitchen. When she was done, she set the phone down on the counter.
“Who was that?” Amity asked, genuinely curious. Luz looked up, at her awe painted on her face, almost as if she couldn’t believe Amity was standing there. She blinked at her a few times and then seemed to absentmindedly rub her back.
“It was just my band,” the human said waving a hand dismissively, “hang on I just thought of something.” The girl reached down and touched the hem of her shirt before pausing and glancing toward the hallway, where her mother had disappeared to earlier.
“Here.” The human grabbed Amity’s hand and guided her out of the kitchen. Amity face reddened in an instant. She couldn’t get over the fact that Luz was here talking to her, holding her hand. She felt a wave of lightheadedness and nearly tripped after Luz.
The human led Amity through what she would assume was the living room, and waved casually at her mother who was sitting on the couch scrolling through her phone. This shocked Amity, she assumed her mother would have been listening in. That’s what Amity’s parents would have done, but now that she was thinking about it, Amity’s parents probably wouldn’t have cared enough to listen in on her conversations. Ms. Noceda looked up and smiled sweetly at her daughter, and then to her surprise, at Amity. The witch couldn’t help but smile back.
Luz let go of Amity’s hand for a second just to open a door, but it felt like forever. The human swung the door wide and ushered Amity into the room. Amity stepped inside and took a moment to look around. It was so welcoming, fairy lights decorated the walls, and a variety of posters cluttered the space. Amity could only recognize the Azura posters but all the others featured superhero looking cartoons. Above the bed a blue purple and pink flag hung, Amity recognized the colors as the bisexual flag, which Luz had shared with her when they were younger.
There was a click as Luz shut the door. Amity glanced back at the human and smiled shyly.
“This is my old room, I was surprised my mom kept all of my old things.” The human stepped around Amity and sat down on the navy comforter, patting the spot next to her. Amity obliged sitting lightly on the bed fiddling with her thumbs as she did so.
“So about what you were going to say earlier…”
“Oh! Right.” Luz jumped up and shrugged out of her jacket, then to Amity’s alarm she began to pull her shirt up. Heat rushed to her face and she looked down at her clenched fists. She had no idea what was going on.
“When did you come through the portal?”
“We came through about fifteen minutes before I saw you. Why?”
Luz paused for a moment, causing Amity to look up. Luz was standing in front of her, her shirt wadded up in a ball on the floor. She was wearing a black sports bra and had surprisingly defined muscles.
“Wait… we?”
“The twins and Willow came with me, we separated when I saw the glyphs in your yard and decided to check it out.” It was a half-truth, Amity didn't decide anything she just did.
“Willow’s here?” Luz’s eyes brightened, then dimmed immediately after, whatever she was thinking about wasn’t pretty.
Amity began to respond but Luz silenced her by leaning forward and pressing her finger to the witches lips. Amity looked down at her finger and back up at Luz, blushing again. Amity had blushed more in the past ten minutes than she had in the past six years combined.
“No, I need to stop getting distracted. ‘Kay so, about the same time the portal was open something… weird happened.” Luz straightened up and turned around giving Amity a full view of her toned back… and the four glyphs, inked onto her skin. Amity’s mouth fell open with a pop, and she stood up, walking slowly towards Luz. When she reached her she traced the outline of the glyph she recognized from their Grudgby game when Luz used the thorn vault. Luz shivered at the touch and Amity, realizing what she was doing, drew her hand back with a mumbled “sorry”.
Luz turned back to Amity and sat cross legged on the floor. She didn’t even bother to put her shirt back on, and Amity wasn’t sure if that was a bad thing or not.
“I was in line at this cafe, when I felt a weird tingling on my spine, it didn’t hurt but it, like, itched… I don’t really know.” She was ranting, and it was adorable, “I reached back to touch it and my skin was hot, I could feel it through my jacket. Obviously I panicked and ran to the bathroom, and when I looked at my back…” Luz’s eyes were wide as saucers, and she was using her hands to tell the story, waving them in all directions, and honestly, Amity thought she might die of cuteness, “The light glyph, it was glowing.” Amity raised her eyebrows.
“Some magic probably escaped the portal when we went through, since that glyph takes so little power, the energy that escaped the Isles was enough to activate it.”
“That’s what I was thinking.”
They sat in silence for a while. Amity, who's mind was close to boiling over, decided to break the tension.
“So,” she began, “what have you been up to? Didn’t you mention a band?”
Luz’s face lit up, she launched into a lengthy explanation of her band, explaining the glyphs out front, and the unexpected phone call. Amity tried to keep up with the human, but she talked so fast. Several names were thrown around, Bailey, Jacob, Lauren. Luz spent a lot of time talking about Lauren. How she was so easy to talk to, and how she was her first real friend in the human world. Amity felt a twinge of jealousy for this girl, and again scolded herself for being so obsessive.
“I didn’t know you could play the guitar.” Amity said, trying to distract herself from the conflicted feelings warring in her head.
“Oh yeah, I played when I was younger, but picked it up again about five years ago.” Luz got up suddenly and skipped to her closet, throwing it open with a flourish. She dragged a big black case out and propped it open. She pulled a worn down guitar from the case, and ran a hand along the strings lovingly. The instrument was a burgundy red, decorated with colorful stickers, Amity saw the bi flag again, but other than that, the phrases and images were unfamiliar.
Luz carried the instrument back over to Amity, who felt a bit as if she was intruding on an intimate moment.
“I’ve actually been looking forward to playing for you for awhile.” Luz confessed keeping her eyes down, her face reddening. Amity didn’t know what to say so she just nodded, swallowing in an attempt to open her throat.
Luz tuned the guitar, strumming the strings as she adjusted the sound. She stuck her tongue out in concentration and Amity smiled fondly at her.
Once Luz was satisfied she reached up and adjusted the hat she was wearing. Amity realized with a start, that it was the beanie the witch had given to her all those years ago.
When Luz strummed the first chord, time seemed to freeze. As far as Amity was concerned the only thing in the entirety of both their worlds was Luz and her music. The song was soft, gentle and the most beautiful thing Amity had ever heard. The witch closed her eyes and let the music consume her. She would be happy to stay in this moment forever.

Luz loved this song, it was one her Papa would sing to her when she was barely able to walk. It was the only memory she had of him. She had sworn long ago that she would only play this song for her Mami, and then she would teach it to her own children. She had broken that promise, years ago, and she still regretted it. It had been very impulsive, the boy had admitted that he had a crush on her. She had still been spewing over Amity and had needed away out. She gave it a shot, and just because she wanted it to be more than it was she played for him. He moved away the next week, no explanation, no goodbye, and honestly Luz was relieved. But now she was playing it for Amity, and it had never felt so right. For the first time she began to feel a purpose, deep down in her heart, lighting up the darkness that had plagued her ever since she left the Isles.
She found the notes melting together like honey, a most satisfying feeling after years of struggling to find a reason to play. She supposed that was why she joined the band, she needed an outlet, to be able to play without the constant memories and crippling regret. She loved getting lost in the moment, but until now that had always led to sadness.
Luz plucked the last few notes and exhaled lightly, her lips curling with a soft smile. She looked up at Amity who was gazing back at her longingly, and to Luz’s surprise tears glistened in her eyes.
“Luz… that was beautiful.” The pure awe in her voice was enough to make Luz tear up as well.
“I’m glad you liked it. I don’t play that for people, it’s very special to me, my Papa taught me the song.” Amity sucked in a breath and Luz smiled sheepishly at her, before looking down at her guitar, she began to fiddle with a sticker that was peeling off.
There was a rustling and then a warm hand on her shoulder. She looked up at Amity who was kneeling next to her.
“Luz, it was gorgeous,” she pressed a hand against her heart, “I am honored that you played it for me.”
They were grinning at each other, an electric tension fizzing between them like a live wire. Amity moved her hand so it rested on Luz’s upper arm.
The tension changed. Luz knew Amity felt it too, from the way her smile faded and her eyes lowered to Luz’s lips.
I want to kiss her so bad. Luz was shocked by her own thoughts. But then again, hadn’t she considered the same thing six years ago during their last day together?
Both girls had unconsciously leaned towards each other, their noses were inches apart and Luz could feel Amity’s hot breath on her face. She suddenly became self conscious, she prayed to the Gods that her breath didn’t smell. She bit her lip in frustration, which caught Amity’s attention, she was bright red, but didn’t move away.
There was a light knock on the door, and they drew apart, both red, both breathing hard.
“Luz?” It was her mother, “There’s someone else here to see you.” That’s weird, she wasn’t expecting anyone, Luz knew she looked confused because Amity was looking at her with a raised eyebrow.
“Kay, I’ll be there in a second.” She stood up and realized that her legs were aggressively shaking, she hoped Amity didn’t notice. She put her guitar away automatically, her movements robotic. Should she mention what definitely almost happened between them? She glanced over at Amity who was avoiding eye contact, staring at the posters on the wall, her blush had faded to a light dusting of pink. Yeah, maybe now wasn’t the time.

They had almost kissed. They had almost kissed. Amity could barely breathe, her heart was pounding so loud she wouldn’t be surprised if Luz could hear the unsteady beat.
Her head was still spinning when Luz slipped out the door, on her way to see who her other guest was. She couldn’t stop shaking, this was ridiculous, she needed to get herself under control.
She could faintly hear the mumble of voices, Luz and whoever else was here. She still couldn’t understand why her body was reacting so violently. It was just a kiss, her first kiss. She pulled her knees to her chest and attempted to sort through her thoughts. She knew she should probably be ashamed, she was in her twenties and still hadn’t had a first kiss. Her parents had tried to push her into relationships with an assortment of boyfriends, but they all ended quickly with each one getting frustrated at Amity’s lack of interest. Of course she wouldn’t be interested in them, she didn’t like men, at all. But she couldn’t tell her parents that they had put all of their faith in her to continue the Blight bloodline, since the twins had both refused to keep a committed relationship as well.
Her sulking was interrupted by Luz re-entering the bedroom.
“It’s Emira, she needs you.” Amity was immediately on her feet. Luz stepped aside giving her space to leave the room. As Amity passed they grazed shoulders and all the emotions that Amity had tried to suppress before threatened to boil over again. She clenched her teeth, leashing her heart and focusing on the task at hand.
Emira was panicked, her hair was messy, strands falling out of her usually perfect braid, a signal that she probably had been running her hands through it. She was fidgeting with her hands, a very un-Emira thing to do.
Amity approached her and grabbed her wrists, forcing her to hold still.
“Emira what’s wrong.”
“We have to go back. Now.” Her voice was shaking.
“Why?”
“I don’t have time to explain, but if we don’t leave now we may be stuck in the human world for a lot longer than originally planned.”
Amity knew her sister wouldn’t exaggerate something as serious as this, but she really didn’t want to leave Luz again. She turned back toward the human girl who was lurking in the entryway, chewing her nails. She glanced back at her sister who was still fidgeting.
“I’ll give you two a second.” She stepped away from the house, and Amity shut the door.
As soon as she heard the click she spun to Luz.
“Come with me, please.” Luz took a step back, her eyes widening, “Please Luz, I don’t want to leave you again.” I can’t live without you.
“I don’t know…” Amity could tell she was struggling, her eyes were wide, and emotions kept flashing across her face too fast to determine them.
Amity stepped forward and grabbed Luz’s hands.
“I know it’s been a tough few years, but I also know that we can get better, together. I don’t know what this is, whatever we have, but I know that if you come with me we can explore it together.” Her voice was beginning to crack, “So please Luz, give us a chance?”
Silence, the silence was horrible. It ripped into Amity’s mind and played with her emotions. Tears pricked in her eyes and she stopped breathing. Maybe that was too much, maybe she sounded desperate, she was desperate. She knew the amount of pressure she was putting on Luz, she knew it was a horrible thing to do, but she hadn’t had time to think, and in that moment the only thing she could feel was mind consuming fear.
Luz looked up at Amity and gave her a weak smile.
“I’ll get my stuff.”