Chapter 7
For a little while, the walk was silent. Luz barely kept up with Amity's fast pace, the witch never did let go of her hand, and she certainly wasn't going to complain about that. But it was worrying how quickly Amity decided to take her home. Was talking about her (not so) secret love for the Azura series that much of a touchy subject?
'Maybe it has to do with how they got here?' Luz wondered, her grip unconsciously tightened on the witches hand, 'Why haven't their parents come to see them?'
"Amity?" Luz asked carefully.
She glanced back, but turned to keep going forward, "What?"
Luz flinched at the coldness in her tone, "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine."
"I don't think so." Luz insisted.
"Drop it Luz."
That was it. Luz halted in her tracks, pulling Amity back slightly. "No! Something is wrong. Is it what Ed said?"
Amity stumbled a little, turning around with a defensive snarl on her lips. "Drop it! Why do you have to meddle?!" Amity backtracked immediately when Luz shrunk away, "I'm...sorry for snapping--"
"It's fine." Luz said lowly, "You're right."
The walk was tense after that. Both stubbornly refusing to speak to one another. Luz looked at their still joined hands, she gave a small squeeze. An unspoken I'm not mad at you.
While Amity didn't look back, the hesitantly returned squeeze was all she needed.
"Guys I messed up!" Luz whined, her head thunked against the table harshly.
"What did you do?" Gus asked.
"Probably the Luz thing."
Gus nodded, "Yeah probably."
Luz's head snapped up from the table, "What 'Luz thing' ?"
"That thing where you try to help someone but push too much and then get sad over it." Gus clarified with a smile.
She let out another whine, letting her head fall back to the table. "Not helping."
Willow put a hand on her friend's shoulder, "I think it's best to give Amity a bit of space. If it's as bad as you think, it'll take time for her to open up."
"How did you know I was talking about Amity?" Luz muttered against the table surface.
"Wait we aren't?!" Gus exclaimed. "I could have sworn we were."
Luz groaned.
The twins were having a rather calm, relaxing time watching a human movie on the couch--
"Sibling meeting!" Amity blurted out after throwing open the front door.
--until they weren't.
The older witch hit pause as her little sister practically threw herself onto the couch. "I think I messed up."
Edric sat up, shooting Emira a knowing grin. She made a subtle shushing gesture that Amity thankfully didn't notice, too caught up in her distress. "With what Mittens?" She asked, trying to keep the smirk that wanted to show.
"With Luz!"
Both Edric and Emira scooted closer from either side, "Tell us everything." Edric said, putting an arm around his little sister.
Amity fiddled with her hands in her lap, "So I was holding her hand--"
"Scandalous." Emira snickered.
The younger witch let a quick flash of annoyance show, but continued, "--anyway, she started asking if I was okay. And I..."
Edric clicked his tongue, "Ah, making sense now. You did your Mittens thing didn't you?"
Amity crossed her arms defensively, "Shut up! I didn't know what to do! I couldn't tell her because it's so stupid--"
Emira immediately flicked her little sister in the ear.
"--ow, Em!"
"Stop that. It isn't stupid." Emira joined her brother in hugging Amity, trapping her between them.
"But--!"
"Amity." Edric said gently, giving her shoulders a squeeze, "It isn't stupid."
Amity both hated and loved when they used her real name. It always managed to get her to simply accept it whenever they decided to smolder her with affection. Like now. "Do you think Luz will talk to me tomorrow...? Or what if I misinterpreted--"
The twins tightened their hold, "Amity." Emira said this time. "It'll be okay."
And she caved completely. Amity allowed herself to pull her siblings closer. Wordlessly, Emira unpaused the movie, and one by one, they all fell asleep, Amity in the middle, and the twins curled protectively around her on either side.