Hey guys!
I'll have to see what I'll write over next week, but it could maybe take two weeks instead of one!
But that's okay, I don't think anyone's life depends on this story xD
I'm currently writing a different slow-burn Owl House piece that recently reached 50k which I might upload sometime soon.
Tip, it's aged down and in a medieval setting!
Would you guys be interested in that?
Let me know in the comments, I'm so curious!
For now, enjoy this chapter x)
A few minutes later, they had breezed through all the bread and most toppings they had bought and decorated the plate they had chosen with tomatoes, carrots, and other vegetables that could be eaten as finger food, as well as a few sausages and pickles.
Proudly, Luz propped her hands upon her hips and nodded at their work, before turning to her and offering her a hand. Amity stared at it for a long moment, before Luz furrowed her eyebrows.
"Are you-... Greeting me?", she awkwardly asked and Luz broke out in laughter. She wouldn't even calm down, after Amity had asked multiple times what was wrong, before straightening up again, tears running down her cheeks. The amused expression was almost cute enough to stop Amity from scowling.
Still laughing, Luz held out her hand again and Amity gave an exasperated little sound, before throwing her arms up.
"I don't know what you want of me, what do I do?!", she exclaimed and Luz began laughing even louder while Amity pouted. Finally, the young woman breathed through just enough to be able to explain what was wrong.
"That's a high five, Amity.", she explained and she lost her pout, just glad Luz had stopped laughing at her, "You do the same and we clap our hands together."
Mimicking the same gesture as from before, she lifted her other hand and pretended it to be Amity's, clapping her palms together.
Slowly, Amity nodded.
"Okay, I wanna try.", she mumbled, positioning herself while Luz held out her hand again. Swinging back, she lifted her hand as well and aimed for Luz's, slapping her hand against Luz's calloused palm as hard as she could, before looking back to the Latina again.
Once again, Luz's face was as red as it could be and she obviously tried to hold back her laugh so hard, but she did a terrible job at hiding that. Once again pouting, now crossing her arms, Amity tried to stare her down.
"Did I do something wrong?", she asked and finally, Luz couldn't hold it in anymore. She snorted and bent over from laughing so hard, looking back up to her with tears in her eyes, while Amity felt her shoulders sagging. She couldn't deny a certain kind of exhilarating anger, though, at being teased. She actually found it to be fun when Luz did it, and she had no idea why. Amusement bubbled up in her and she did her best to mask it with anger, yet Luz made it hard not to join in her laughter. Furrowing her eyebrows, Amity now shifted her weight to one leg, to appear more pissed s Luz would finally explain, but she couldn't hold back the tiniest smirk on her lips, and the chuckle that snuck into her voice.
"What?!", she asked, only prompting Luz to laugh more and more at her behavior, before she finally caught herself again, wiping the tears from her eyes.
"It's-... It's just a normal high five, Amity. Look. Like this.", she held out her hand for another time again and softly took Amity's with the other, her hand feeling big and warm around hers.
She then led Amity's palm against hers, creating a small clapping sound, and Amity could feel her skin tingle, not only from the hard slap she had given just now but also from touching Luz like this, feeling the warmth of her skin on hers.
Amity felt her cheeks flushing, equal parts in embarrassment and in excitement before Luz let go of her hand and let her do it herself.
She let their hands clap together once or twice, before nodding at Luz, showing a thumb up.
"Okay, got it. Next time you want a high-five I'll be ready.", she promised, getting another grin out of the other woman before they turned back to the plate they had prepared and Amity couldn't help but feel a bit uneasy.
Back at home, she had a plate-like this every morning. To herself. Well, the twins sometimes took some of it as well, when they were home, but they missed breakfast most times.
She should really start asking the staff if they could take some off for themselves and then take the plate to bring it here. Maybe that would be cool!
Actually...
"Hey Luz?", she asked and her coworker. Were they coworkers by now, technically?
Luz turned to her and tilted her head.
"Yes, what is it?", she asked and Amity hummed, twisting her fingers in her hand while she stared back at the plate, giving Luz the wrong thought, "You know, you paid for it, of course, you can have a sandwich."
Amity shot her a mock annoyed glance at that comment, but instead of humoring Luz, continued.
"If, you know... If I had such a plate, like, every day... And could just bring it here. Would that, you know, would the workers like that? Would that be, uh, cool with everyone here?", she asked timidly and Luz tilted her head a little further, actually kind of looking like a puppy that was promised a treat.
"Well, yes, of course. Some of us actually forget to bring meals sometimes and half an hour of lunchtime isn't enough to drive down the mountain and get something in the city. So, yeah, I think a lot of people here would actually enjoy that. And regarding the ones who bring lunch, I think they would be glad to sleep ten minutes longer, instead of having to make themselves lunch in the morning."
This concept was foreign to Amity.
To make lunch in the morning. She had never thought about where the lunch for these people came from, she had just assumed they had it with them, not that they had to make something for lunch at breakfast time and take it with them to eat later.
Furrowing her eyebrows, she nodded, before finally smiling.
"Great. Because the staff back home makes a plate like this every morning and while they eat some of it, I know most of it just goes to waste. I tried to stop my mother from demanding that, but she won't let them skip making breakfast every day, even when nobody is home."
Luz's jaw fell at that and she stared at Amity.
"Wait, seriously? Your mom demands your staff makes breakfast every single morning, even if nobody is going to eat it?", she asked and Amity groaned.
"Please, I know it's illogical, but she demands they cook every single day. 'That's what I hired them for', she says.", she groaned in embarrassment and hid her face in her hands, not wanting to look at Luz's incredulous expression. She felt even more horrible about it now than she had before.
"Wow, okay. Well, before it goes to waste, workers are always hungry. You can take the plate here and a lot of us will thank you for that.", she promised, but Amity didn't lift her hands off her face, feeling her cheeks still burning in embarrassment.
"Great, thank you...", she mumbled, before suddenly feeling Luz's hands on her shoulders, and when she looked up, the beautiful brown eyes of the young woman in front of her looked down at her with such a soft expression she wanted to melt.
"Hey, it's okay, you know? You live in different circumstances and while they may be weird to me, or not make any sense, that's not your responsibility or fault. In fact, I think it's great you recognize that you can utilize how your mom treats your staff, I bet they'd feel a lot better if the plate was emptied every day instead of throwing so much stuff away.", she nodded at Amity and gave a little smile before letting her hands sink down again, her shoulders suddenly feeling much colder now that she wasn't being held anymore. The reason for Luz's attention shifting was her friends and coworkers coming in for their lunch break.
"Hey, guys! Amity and I made some sandwiches! Feel free to grab one if you want to!", she offered and a lot of the workers came forth and inspected the plate they had prepared. Within a few minutes, half of it was already gone and Amity breathed in relief as she munched on a sandwich Luz had made, watching her goofing off with her coworkers and being teased for not working and making lunch instead. Amity could tell they weren't actually mad and were just making fun of Luz for doing something good for the group, as they were all holding a sandwich from the plate, or some finger food, whatever they had wanted to have.
Smiling to herself, she didn't even notice Willow standing next to her at first. Only when the dark-haired woman cleared her throat, Amity flinched and looked to her side, seeing Willow standing next to her, holding a sandwich and chewing on a bite she had taken.
"Thank you.", she softly said and Amity nodded, smiling back.
"Of course. I figured I wanted to do something nice for the group and, uh...", she mumbled, before Willow gave her a little nudge, grinning.
"You wanted to kidnap Luz for a while.", she smirked and Amity felt her face heating up again.
"M-Maybe... We made up, by the way. I think she's more comfortable around me now, despite the board incident."
Humming, Willow nodded as she sat down on a garden chair, Amity following her example, then she smiled back at Amity again.
"By the way, that offer for you to hang out with us still stands, if you'd like. I talked to Gus and Luz about it and they're both cool with it.", she opened and Amity almost choked on her sandwich. This had not been something she had thought about recently.
"Wait, really?"
Nodding, Willow chuckled and took a gulp of water from the bottle that was standing next to the chair, before replying, the laughter still evident in her voice.
"Yeah. If you're free some time and want to meet up with us, we could cook together, play some games or go out to drink. Luz and Gus are both agreeing, and you're very welcome."
Amity had to chew on that for a short moment, furrowing her eyebrows, before finally nodding. She had never had the opportunity to do something as relaxed with friends if she was allowed to call them that. According to her parents, it always had to be some sort of outing, something the media would approve of, something that was worth their standards. And their standards usually meant flying Amity and her friends out to some faraway city to spend the weekend there. Which would have been cool and all, if her time hadn't been planned by some tour guides and entertainers.
"Wow... I'd really like it if we could cook something together.", she softly suggested and Willow nodded.
"Maybe, if you feel up for it, we could go out to get a cheap beer from a nearby supermarket and sit under the stars fr a while. It's Luz's favorite thing to do.", she gave a sly grin that Amity didn't notice, even when she turned to Willow.
"Get cheap beer? But-... I could-", she began, yet Willow lifted her hand.
"There's something magical about cheap beer, believe me. It gives you the feeling to conquer the whole world.", she promised and Amity shut her mouth. Maybe Willow was right about it. Maybe the experience was the thing that counted, not the quality granted by the price. Maybe it was just about the principle of consciously getting a cheap beer.
Smiling, she nodded.
"Okay. Let's do that!", she cheered and Willow gave a giggle, nodding.
"We gotta do that on a Saturday, though we'll be too tired from working on a Friday and we wouldn't want to fall asleep on you.", she joked, yet Amity didn't find herself being repulsed by that statement.
"Honestly, if you guys fell asleep around me that would still be more intimacy than I ever had in my life...", she mumbled and Willow sat upright, staring at her.
"You never had sleepovers?", she asked, incredulously and Amity grimaced, shrugging.
"I-... I was in a dorm in a private school... And I, uh, I had sleepovers. Ice in Paris, the sunset on Hawaii, that sorta thing.", she embarrassedly looked down, "It always felt so... Fake, so exposed. There's paparazzi around you at all times, the schedule is tightly packed and nobody there wants to talk about stupid stuff like books... They all just talked about their money, their parents, their estates, and rich boys they met."
Willow leaned back again and tried to forget how jealous she was that Amity had been these places, instead focusing on what bothered her.
"... Ah, the boys you weren't interested in.", she tried joking and Amity's head shot up to give her a stare, making Willow giggle, "It's really not subtle... All that's missing is the huge blinking sign reading Lesbian above your head."
Rolling her eyes, Amity buried her face in her hands, completely forgetting about the sandwich she was holding and smashing the bread against her temple before noticing, lowering her hands again.
"So obvious?", she grimaced and Willow nodded, "Well, my parents are many things, but at least not homophobic..."
Sympathetically, Willow reached over and rubbed her back before getting back to their original topic, humming.
"You know, we could do a sleepover once. Girls night out, Gus will even do some drag for you, he just doesn't want to be left out.", she smiled and Amity gave a hearty laugh.
"As much as I'd like to see Gus in drag, I wouldn't mind pronouncing him an honorary girl for our sleepover.", she assured the other girl and they both chuckled, "Though, I also wouldn't mind putting the drag on Gus..."
A mischievous glint stole itself into Willow's eyes and she turned, looking through the room until she found Gus, eyeing him with malicious intent.
"I absolutely wouldn't mind, either. And I don't think Gus would be opposed. He would honestly love it.", she promised, making Amity grin.
"If Gus gets to try out drag, I wanna be face-painted a lesbian.", she argued and Willow sent her an approving glance.
"That is absolutely mandatory.", she smirked and Amity gave a huge breath of relief, before sharing a smile with her friend. Newfound friend? Coworker? She'd have to determine that sometime. For now, she was happy she was accepted somewhere.
The rest of the day went relatively calmly. They put in some more of the tiles outside when Amity finally declared she was tired and couldn't continue anymore, so Luz took over while she took a break before they moved inside and Luz went to help out someone named Viney while Amity took the time to call her siblings since she had some missed calls from them.
They informed her that they wouldn't be able to make it back over the weekend and that she'd be home alone since their parents were also out and about.
Sighing, she nodded, feeling some disappointment to be alone, again, before remembering the offer Willow had made her. Immediately grinning, she skipped back to her new friends, Willow and Gus, and Willow already chuckled when she saw her.
"Well, you look chipper all of a sudden. Luz said you were tired.", she commented and Amity giggled, waving it off.
"I'm free this Saturday! My family is gone over the weekend and I'd be super bored otherwise.", she announced and Gus's face broke into a huge grin, making him stand up and throw up his arms.
"Cool! Night out!", he cheered and Amity chuckled, rubbing the back of her head.
"I mean, only if you guys are cool with it. But I'd honestly love it.", she mumbled and Willow placed a hand on her shoulder, nudging her towards the upper level.
"Go tell Luz! I'm sure she'll agree, too!", she encouraged Amity and the girl smiled before walking up the stairs and going to find Luz. She had to be up here somewhere.
Humming, she followed the hallways and looked around, though she could only hear her voice and following that was hard in a house full of empty rooms echoing all over the place.
She followed the hallway and peeked into some rooms she thought her voice was coming from, but couldn't find her still, until she finally stumbled upon them both, sitting on scaffolding and preparing the wall again, having drilled into the concrete and now working to screw the board on. Amity recognized the wall as the one where she had been helping already, making her grin.
"Hey, Luz!", she called and the girl leaned over the railing to look down at her, making Amity fear for her safety a little bit, but Luz looked like she grew up on that scaffolding.
"Yeah?", she asked before recognizing Amity and motioning her to wait, "Ah, I'm gonna come down, wait!"
Quickly and flexibly as a monkey, she was down within a second, having climbed down the ladder with a kind of enthusiasm Amity wouldn't have thought possible on such a shaky construct.
"What is it?", Luz asked and grinned, taking off her helmet to brush through her messy brown hair and making Amity positively swoon and splutter before getting a grip and forcing out real words.
"Uh, so-... Willow said it was fine with you guys if we hung out, and, uh... You know, I'm free on Saturday?", she tried sounding casual but had the feeling she was more leaning towards the desperate side.
"Like a date?", the girl from the scaffolding teased and Amity quickly stuttered, shaking her head and holding up her hands defensively.
"N-No! I mean-... In your, uh, flat. With Willow and Gus. You know? Because Willow invited me.", she felt the blush spreading on her cheeks, making Luz smile.
"Don't listen to Viney, she's just teasing you.", she reassured Amity, before adding, "And I'd love to! That sounds like a plan. At what time can you come over?"
Shrugging, Amity smiled at Luz, shaking her head.
"Oh, I'm just free. It really depends on you guys. I assume you guys wanna sleep in, though, so I could come over in the afternoon?", she smirked and Luz couldn't stop her own blush from dusting her cheeks.
"That would honestly sound amazing. That way we can still get some ingredients to cook in the evening. If that's okay?", she asked and Amity animatedly nodded, grinning.
"Yes, that'd be really cool.", she beamed and Luz nodded at that, giving her a thumb up.
"Alright then! Will you go home now?", she asked and Amity shrugged, giving a tiny nod, before looking down to her feet.
"Yeah, I'm a bit tired and still wanna talk to my siblings a little.", she said, a little ashamed that she could come and go as she pleased, but Luz merely grinned at that, before climbing up the ladder again.
"Will you be here tomorrow again so we can finish the terrace?", she called from half up the scaffolding down and Amity giggled, nodding.
"Yes, of course! Gotta stay in schedule.", she joked and Luz shot her a grin, before pushing her smirking coworker away, giving a little wave and almost losing her balance.
"That's the spirit! Now you're thinking like a businesswoman!", she called and Amity rolled her eyes, waving back.
"Take care! Til tomorrow!"
Let me know if you liked it!