Late night call
Amity POV:
It was always the nights before the shows that stressed me out the most. I paced around in my room, my eyebrows tightly knitted together while my pacing slowly started to put a hole through my floor.
My thoughts were all over the place, everything that could go right or wrong flying through my head faster than rat worm racers. I groaned, rubbing my temples. All of this stupid stress was giving me a headache.
"Why am I even worrying? Nothing ever goes wrong." I muttered with a sigh, my gaze landing on the flower Luz gave me a few days ago. I stopped pacing and slowly made my way over to the purple plant, noticing the petals were drooping.
"Luz... that's why I'm worrying." I said in a softer voice, gently cradling the flower in the palm of my hand. It's not like I thought she was going to bomb on stage, rather, I have no clue how she's reacting to all the stress.
She's been surprisingly cool these last few days, while everyone else has been tense and struggling, she's still been the same old Luz, enthusiastic and making jokes.
But I couldn't tell if it was all forced. Was she staying positive to try to ease our nerves? Or was she doing it to ease her own? I felt like it could be a mix of both, but I wasn't certain. Then again, maybe it was none of that and she really wasn't stressed at all. Another low sigh escaped me, mentally kicking myself for not asking how she was doing.
I've gotten so used to how everyone else would react during the last few days that it didn't even cross my mind to check on Luz. "Great going Amity." I growled, running my hands through my hair. "Gee, didn't even think to ask how stressed she is. Fantastic job you nitwit!"
"No need to beat yourself up Mittens." I jumped, turning to see Emira leaning on my door frame with her arms folded. She moved further into my room, her eyes glancing around for a moment. "But, to be honest, Luz probably is a little stressed. I mean, it is her first show after all. Then again, it's Luz we're talking about here so you never know."
I shifted my gaze off of my sister and back to the flower, frowning at the drooping petals. Drawing a small rejuvenation spell, I smiled when the petals perked back up. Emira's footsteps moved closer to me and I could sense she was peering over my shoulder.
With a small laugh, she lightly patted my back. "Y'know, you can do an embalming spell right?" Before I could say anything, she already cast a spell on the purple flower. "It's easier than doing a bunch of little rejuvenation spells. And it's probably a lot safer if your trying to preserve the flower."
I nodded my head, still staring at the flower for a moment before turning around and moving towards my bed, taking a seat. Emira followed after me, taking a seat next to me, clasping her hands in her lap.
"So what did you need?" I asked, Emira's eyes widening slightly. She paused, staring at my floor for a moment, I followed her gaze, wondering what she was looking at.
"I just came to check on you. I know how you get." She laughed, giving me a soft nudge. "Also, you really do pace a lot huh? You've worn down that part of the floor." Emira pointed to where I was pacing earlier, giving me another nudge.
We both went quiet again and I couldn't help but tap my fingers together. Then, taking deep breath, Emira leaned back a little more on my bed. "Are you nervous?" I asked softly, not looking to see her reaction.
"Nervous for you guys or nervous about how the effects are gonna work?" She asked back with a light chuckle.
"Just in general." Emira hummed, not giving me a response for a minute. I looked back over at her, watching as she tapped a finger against her chin. Then, she shook her head.
"Not really no." She said, giving me a small smile.
"Why's that?" I asked.
"Because there's nothing to worry about." My sister chirped, tilting her head slightly. "Now, can I ask you a question?" I hesitated for a moment, then nodded my head. "Alright, what's got you so worried? I know you normally get stressed out before shows, but it's never been this bad, so what's up?"
Her question made me freeze up a little, turning away from her. She stayed silent, awaiting my answer. "I guess... I guess I'm mostly worrying about Luz. Don't get me wrong, I don't at all think that she's gonna bomb on stage." I quickly added, Emira nodding her head. "But I'm just worried about how she's doing."
"Wow, you're worried about how someone doing?" Edric suddenly chimed in, poking his head in my room. Emira cleared her throat, shooting my brother an intense glare. He quickly realized that he shouldn't have said anything and held his hands up in defense. "Sorry, not the time to joke. That's my bad."
He walked into the room, taking a seat on my free side and placing a hand on my shoulder. "I'm surprised you aren't asleep yet." Emira said, still glaring at Edric. Our brother shrugged.
"I heard you guys talking and wanted to see what was going on." He then looked down at me, his eyes softening. "But Mittens, if you're worrying about how Luz is holding up, you really shouldn't be. She's been pretty much the same, maybe just a bit more nervous than usual, but other than that, there's nothing wrong."
"But what if she's covering up how she's actually feeling?" I threw my hands up, leaning all the way back on my bed. Both my siblings looked at one another, then Edric started to laugh.
"Mittens, we all know that Luz is pretty vocal about how she feels. If something was bugging her, she would've definitely said something. So I doubt she's masking how she's feeling." Emira nodded to what her twin was saying.
And he was right, Luz may be a bit naive and a little impulsive, but she wasn't a doormat. If something was bothering her, she would say something about it. This situation would be no different.
I sat back up so that I was on the same level as my siblings. Edric wrapped his arm around me and pulled me into a side hug, giving my upper arm a rub. "You're just looking a little too much into it sis." He said with a smirk.
Emira also got in the hug, pushing me against Edric. "Oh but little Mittens is worried for her crush~" She teased, giving my head a pat. I groaned and struggled to free my arms, then I pushed the two of them away from me, making them break out into laughter.
They both ruffled my hair and stood up, giving me their signature smirks. "You two just love to do that, don't you?" I muttered, folding my arms over my chest. My siblings turned to one another, smiling the entire time.
"Yep! You've got some of the best reactions." Edric chirped, placing a finger gun under his chin. "Not as good as Matty's though." I had to stifle a laugh, a small smile finding it's way on my face.
His eyes widened when I did that and he looked excitedly towards Emira. "Look at that Ed, you managed to get her to crack a smile." She said, placing a hand on her hip. "Anyways, we'll be heading off for bed. Don't let your worries keep you up all night, alright?"
I nodded my head, giving the two of them a small wave goodbye. "Seriously Mittens, we can't have our lead singer out cold at the show!" Edric said, spinning on his heel and making his way out of the room, Emira following after him. "Night sis!"
"Night guys." I said, hoping they would close the door behind them. Luckily for me, they did. Sighing, I glanced towards my window, noticing the silvery light from the moon that peeked into my room.
Getting up, I moved over to the window, taking a seat in the cold sill. I let one of my legs hang off the sill and I leaned against the other, staring out at the sky. The air around me was calm, helping my mind start to relax.
My gaze slowly drifted down towards the town, noticing the dim lights of the market. "Wonder if there's a nice spot for stargazing... at least, a nice spot that doesn't have a high risk of something attacking you." I sat up, blinking a few times. "Does Luz even like stargazing?"
I spent a bit more time in my window sill, debating with myself if Luz would actually like stargazing or not. But, before I could come to a clear answer, I was startled by the sound of my scroll.
It went off again, it's unique tone echoing around my room. There was only one person I set with that ringtone, making sure I'd know exactly who it was. I quickly jumped out of the window sill and picked up my scroll, a giant smile finding its way on my face when it went off once again.
"Hey Amity!" One message read, making my heart flutter. "Are you up?" A sudden loud clatter came from downstairs, making me jump, my scroll nearly flying out of my hands.
"Sorry Mittens!" My siblings yelled, their voices muffled. I sighed, slowly shaking my head. Turning my gaze back down to my scroll, I read over the last message.
"If you aren't up it's fine! If you're asleep right now then we can talk in the morning <3" The heart. That damned heart somehow managed to suck all the air from my lungs, leaving me with a stupidly tight feeling in my chest.
"She's gonna be the death of me." I gasped, quickly typing out a message. "Yeah I'm up, what's up?" I hesitated for a moment, then clicked send, squealing softly.
I took a deep breath, quickly gaining my composure. "It's just a text Amity. Not like it's the first time you guys have text each other, calm down." I told myself, watching as Luz's name popped up, showing that she was typing out a message.
Finally, my scroll pinged, sending small jolts of electricity up my spine and a giddy smile on my face. "Just thought I'd see if you were up since I can't sleep, see if you wanted to chat." I glanced at the time, seeing it was only a little past ten.
"Sure, but not for long. The show's tomorrow you know." I sent back, slowly leaning back onto the headboard. There was a slight pause, then her name popped up again.
"Hey wait, wanna call?" That made me freeze, I blinked a few times, wondering what I should say back.
"That would be nice <3" I put, but then quickly deleted. It sounded too desperate.
"Yeah sure, why not?" Nope, not that either.
"Sure."
I stared at the message for a moment, my thumb hovering over the send button while I debated if it sounded okay. With a sigh, I hit send, waiting for her to respond.
There was another brief pause, then my scroll suddenly started buzzing, making me jump. It pulled up Luz's contact and photo, which I had set as one of the photos from when she auditioned, showing me that she was trying to call. I quickly picked up the call, putting Luz on speaker.
"Heya Amity! Can you hear me?" I winced slightly at her volume, wondering why she was being so loud.
"Yeah I can hear you." I muttered, hearing a lot of shifting coming from her end.
"Alright, hold on a second..." More shifting sounds followed before they stopped. "How do you...? Wait, is it this button?" My scroll suddenly switched to black, meaning that she was doing a video call now. "King move your tail!"
There was some kind of squeak, then she started bickering with someone who spoke with a squeaky voice, which I'm pretty sure belonged to that demon. While she did that, I turned on my own camera and ran a hand through my hair, hoping it looked kind of presentable.
Finally, her camera cleared up and showed her sitting in what I assumed to be her room. Her hair was messy and she had dirt smudged on her clothes, but she wore a bright smile, her hands holding her shins as she gently rocked back and forth.
"What happened to you?" I asked. Luz looked down at her clothes, then chuckled, trying to wipe the dirt off.
"I was just out helping Eda. She needed me to carry in some crates, which I guess they were pretty dirty." She smiled, leaning forward slightly. With a small wave, I made my scroll float in the air in front of me.
"Looks like it." I muttered, pulling slightly at the collar of my shirt. Luz looked around her room, then started to stand up.
"Actually you know what? I'm gonna get into something more comfortable real quick. Be right back!" She used some kind of blanket to cover her camera, making my scroll go black once again.
Sighing, I turned my gaze back to my window for a moment, staring at the bit of the moon I could see. While I waited, I slowly started to zone out, my imagination getting the best of me.
I imagined the two of us laying on a hill, pointing out what we could see in the stars. I pictured her chuckling, interlacing her hand with mine like it was nothing before she pointed out another shape with her free hand. She started to say something, her lips moving but no words coming out. But, then she started to laugh at whatever she just said, and I could hear that loud and clear.
"Amity!" I jumped, turning my gaze back to my scroll, which now showed Luz tapping her camera. "Oh there we go! Did this freeze or what? I was trying to talk to you for like a minute and you wouldn't respond." I could tell she was trying to balance her scroll on some sort of object to make it stand up.
"Oh, no it probably didn't freeze. Sorry, I zone out a lot when it gets late." I muttered, a blush rising to my cheeks. I silently hoped that my room was dark enough where she wouldn't see or question the blush.
Her eyes widened slightly, then her eyebrows furrowed together. "Well if you want we can wait till tomorrow to talk. I don't want to keep you up if you don't want to be."
"No no no! We can still talk!" I quickly said, a bit of panic in my voice. "I was just waiting for you to come back." She raised an eyebrow, then smirked, leaning her head onto the palms of her hands.
"I wasn't gone for that long y'know." The look on her face just screamed that she was gonna tease me. I knew it was coming, but I had no idea when. With a sigh, I folded my arms.
"If you're gonna tease me for it, do it now." I said, rolling my eyes. Luz laughed, making my ears go down slightly.
There was that amazing sound again.
And with it returned that fluttering feeling.
"You missed me~" She teased in a singsong tone. "The mighty Amity Blight is starting to get attached to this human, aren't you?" I scoffed, shooting her a smirk to try and smother the blush that was slowly getting worse.
"Who's to say I wasn't already attached when I first met you?" I wanted to say, but I didn't. "And who's to say that you aren't getting attached to this witch?" I said instead, pointing a thumb towards my chest.
"Hey!" She said with a laugh, clasping a hand over her heart. "There's no need to call me out like that!" That made me laugh, Luz soon doing the same thing. "But hey, you never answered my question."
"Which would be?" I played dumb, making Luz just shake her head. She leaned forward, nearly face planting when she leaned too far.
"Oh come on you know!" I shook my head, but I couldn't help but crack another smile. "You, the top student of Hexside, now lead singer of a popular band, Amity Blight, is attached to this human that managed to accidentally stumble upon your world two years ago."
"So what if I have?" Luz gasped, clasping her hand over her mouth as her eyes grew wide.
"You are attached to me!" She said excitedly, pumping her fists in the air. I blinked a few times, then started to chuckle.
"I don't know what gave you the idea I wasn't, but okay." Luz started to chuckle as well, adjusting her position so she was lying on her stomach.
"Oh no don't worry, I already knew you were. I just wanted to hear you say it." She shot me a devilish grin, leaning against her hand. I pretended to be offended, placing a hand over my chest.
"Wow, you actually stooped that low." Luz posed, shooting me a cat like smile with half lidded eyes. "Oh well, that doesn't matter, cause I got you to admit you were attached to me too."
Her expression dropped, a soft sound escaping her lips. Both her eyes darted around for a moment, then her eyes widened. "Oh... right." That made me start laughing again, Luz put on a fake pout as she folded her arms over her chest. "I didn't think that would backfire dangit."
Even though her room was fairly dark, I swear I could see a faint blush on her cheeks. Was it out of irritation? I couldn't tell. "Hey, you set yourself up for that one." I pointed out, making her dramatically turn her head away from me, though that lasted maybe a few seconds before she dropped the fake pout and turned to fully face me.
"Okay, maybe I did." She admitted, waving one of her hands around. "But that doesn't mean you had to call me out on it."
"Hey, if you call me out don't expect me to not do the same thing to you." I glanced at the time again, not really caring that it was starting to get late.
"I'd expect nothing less of you Blight." Luz managed to say before yawning, lightly scratching her side. There was a bit of silence for a moment, so I struggled to think of something to say.
"Luz?" She glanced up at me, tilting her head slightly as she gave me a low hum. "Are you nervous?" Luz blinked a few times, cracking a small smile.
"About the show?" I nodded my head. "Oh, well yeah I'm a little nervous, but not as bad as I thought I would be. Why do you ask?" She gave me another soft smile, but then something else got in view of her camera, casting it in black.
There was a bit of shuffling, then the camera became uncovered, revealing that demon. "Hey! Luz isn't nervous! She's more confident than all you other band losers!" He exclaimed before squeaking, Luz trying to wrestle the scroll out of his paws.
"King give it back! And don't call Amity a loser!" Luz hissed, yanking her scroll away from the demon. She set it down on the floor, giving me a good view of the ceiling for a moment, then she quickly positioned her scroll back the way it was. Now, she had the tiny demon in her arms, making sure he stayed in place. "Sorry about that." She chuckled.
"It's alright. Besides, your little demon's right." That made Luz raise an eyebrow, the demon squirming in her grasp in an attempt to escape before finally falling limp with a sigh, accepting his fate.
"Right about what? Cause last I checked, you guys weren't losers." I rolled my eyes, a low chuckle bubbling up from my throat.
"I'd say that's a little debatable with my siblings." I argued, rubbing my eyes. "But he's right, you're probably way more confident than the five of us." Luz scoffed, shaking her head as she put a hand on the demon's head, and even though he looked angry at her, it was clear he was enjoying the contact.
"I really doubt that." She said, her gaze falling down to the demon in her lap, a lopsided grin on her face. "You guys have been doing this a lot longer than I have."
"That doesn't mean anything, we're all still nervous and jittery no matter how many times we've done this." I watched as the demon in Luz's lap stretched out, yawning before curling up into a small ball and closing his eyes.
Her eyes glittered as his actions, a long, low squeal coming from her throat. She gently placed a hand on his head, slowly running her hand down his back. The demon gave a content sigh, waving his hand up. "Right there is perfect, keep going." He said, not even opening his eyes.
"Sure is demanding, isn't he?" I muttered with a smirk, making Luz chuckle.
"Who are you calling demanding?" He snapped, opening one of his yellow eyes to look at me. Luz brought a hand back up to his head, making him relax. I just shook my head, staring at the two of them.
We both went quiet for a moment, then Luz got a look of realization. "Wait a second! I just remembered!" She picked the demon up and set him on the floor, a tiny weh sound escaping his muzzle. "I completely forgot to ask you what I should wear tomorrow!"
"Oh! Right, you need an outfit." I muttered, watching as Luz stood up and walked out of view of the camera. "Well, first things first, what kind of shirts do you even have?"
"Let me check!" There was the sound of something opening, then a bit of shifting before she came back. "Alright! So I've got this plain white shirt, this one with purple stripes, this black shirt with a skull in the middle..." She hesitated for a minute, staring at the black shirt. "Okay, maybe it's not a skull, it's kinda just a circle with skull markings on it."
Luz listed off a couple more shirts, showing me each of them. "I'd say wear the skull one." I finally said, making Luz nod. She grabbed the shirt and set it aside, then gathered up the rest and disappeared again.
"Light or dark jeans?" She asked, her voice slightly muffled.
"Doesn't matter, though I'd say lighter because of how dark your shirt is." There was a minute of silence, then she popped halfway back into frame, holding up a pair of jeans. They were a really light bluish grey, torn at both knees and messily cuffed at the bottom.
"Would these work?" She asked and I nodded. "Okay great!" She smiled, once again disappearing off screen. Then, she reappeared, sitting back down on the ground with a smile. "Oh hey wait, can I wear my beanie?"
"Sure."
"And my flannel?" She raised an eyebrow, a grin on her face. I thought about it for a moment, trying to picture her in the outfit, but I couldn't get a clear image.
"Maybe. Just bring it tomorrow when we meet up at the studio and I'll tell you what I think." Luz gave me a nod, then yawned, her eyes drooping slightly.
Suddenly, the demon appeared from under Luz's shirt for tomorrow, a scowl on his face. "Are you gonna throw anything else at me?" He asked Luz, who quickly scrambled to get the clothes off of him.
"Sorry King!" She mumbled, messily folding her clothes and placing them behind her. He rolled his eyes, then hopped back up in her lap, hitting her knee a few times. "What are you hitting me for?"
"When are you gonna go to bed? You two have been jabbering for hours now! The King of demons needs his rest and I can't do that with you two talking!" King complained, making Luz pick him up and turn him around to face her.
"We haven't been talking for that long King." She told him, making me glance at the time. It was just a little after eleven thirty, making me grimace. On one hand, I wanted to wrap up the call so the two of us could at least get a decent amount of sleep, but on the other hand, I didn't want to stop talking to her.
"We have been talking for about an hour now." I muttered, making Luz turn her attention to me. She blinked a few times, then took a quick glance at the time, sucking in a breath through clenched teeth.
"Oh shoot, you're right." King stuck his tongue out at Luz, muttering an I told you so under his breath. "Geez, we lost track of time didn't we?" Luz chuckled, lightly bopping King on the nose to get him to stop. I nodded my head.
"That means we should probably call it off for the night." I said with a yawn, my ears twitching slightly.
"It's about time you guys wrapped up your call." King mumbled, crossing his arms over his chest.
"Enough King." Luz lowly hissed, shooting him a playful glare.
"What? You talk to her enough in a day, you don't need to stay up all night talking to her too." She just rolled her eyes, folding her arms over her chest. "I swear, you're acting like she's your world or something." That made Luz tense up, quickly wrapping her hand over his muzzle with a nervous chuckle, somehow shutting him up.
How did that even work? He doesn't open his mouth to talk.
King quickly tore Luz's hand off his face, shooting her a glare. She shot him one back, but he only shook his head and yawned, pawing at her lap for a moment before laying down. Luz's expression quickly changed, putting on a smile as she gave me a little wave.
"Well then, we should get going. I'll talk to you tomorrow Amity!" She chirped, making me nod.
"Talk to you tomorrow Luz." I mumbled, biting back the three extra words I wanted to say and hanging up the call. My scroll went dark, my only source of light now coming from the moon. I was about to make my scroll disappear, but then I stopped.
I pulled up our messages, sticking the tip of my tongue out as I typed a quick message. I hesitated for a moment, my thumb hovering over the send button, then with a sigh, I quickly hit send.
"Can't wait to see you tomorrow <3"
"I'm gonna regret that in the morning." I muttered to myself, making my scroll disappear. With a low groan, I rubbed my face with my hands, a sudden wave of tiredness hitting me. Leaning back onto my bed, I got under my covers and started to relax.
My house was quiet, meaning that the twins were both actually asleep. Kind of surprising honestly, they normally stay up later than this, even if there is a show the next day. Closing my eyes, I slowly started to drift off to sleep, feeling my body melt onto my mattress.
Then, my scroll went off again.
I jumped at the noise, hissing when I smacked my hand against my headboard. While I rubbed my hand, I summoned my scroll, squinting at its bright light. "If it's Boscha, I'm ignoring it till morning." I mumbled, opening the message, noticing there was an image attached.
It wasn't from Boscha.
"Can't wait to see you either! Now get some sleep <3"
It was from Luz.
A blush rose to my cheeks, making my ears go down. Blinking, I clicked on the image that she sent me. It was a selfie of her with a big smile while she held up a peace sign, her hair ruffled slightly and her cheeks dusted with a very light pink.
I made my scroll disappear, then I laid back down on my bed, grabbed my pillow and put it over my face before I let out a loud squeal. It lasted for a minute, then when I pulled my pillow away, I put on a poker face.
"So help me gods she will be the death of me." I muttered, making a small mental note to save the photo she sent in the morning. I put my pillow back down under my head then ran my hands through my hair, noticing just how much heat was radiating off my cheeks.
Rolling onto my side to get comfortable, I stared at the light that flooded into my room, waiting to drift off to sleep. It was quiet, the nice kind of quiet. My eyes fluttered shut, my mind slowly dragging me into a dream.
Before I passed out completely, I silently hoped that my dream would be about Luz. Just the thought of that brought a small smile to my face as I finally turned in for the night.