you kept me like a secret [lumity au]

wind in my hair, i was there

'Cause there we are again on that little town street,
you almost ran the red 'cause you were lookin' over at me.
Wind in my hair, I was there.

-

Luz was the one with the car.

Amity apparently had one lined up for when she turned sixteen, but that was still several months away. It was weird, she'd always assumed that the girl was older than her--since she was several inches taller and just seemed so much more mature .

Maybe it was just because she was so responsible. And got good grades. And, as her siblings had said, seemed to be "little-miss-perfect ".

It was a new normal at this point, for Luz to wait by her car for Amity to arrive. They'd both get in and Luz would drive to whatever location they agreed on. Sometimes she simply dropped Amity off by her neighborhood, sometimes they'd go and hang out in a nearby café. It was simple, but it was overwhelmingly nice.

Technically, they were meant to be editing the short story they'd written, but neither of them had touched it since that first day. At this rate, they'd probably half-heartedly read through it and fix any spelling errors the day before it was due, printing it out to be turned in on the morning of.

It was fall, currently. Which meant all of the quiet streets in town were shrouded in red and gold, filled with vibrant colors that never grew old. A strange nostalgia of pumpkin patches and tractor rides seemed to linger with every field they passed.

The sun was setting earlier and earlier as the October days went by, and their drives together went later and later.

Even in the dark, Amity looked pretty.

So, so pretty. Like a strange, pastel goddess with her dyed hair and simple yet elegant style. The way her ears seemed to point ever so slightly outwards, giving off the illusion of elven ears from certain angles; shadows crossed her face as they passed by streetlights, the few glimpses of luminescence seemingly illuminating her eyes in shades of gold that Luz was certain had to be illegal, she could probably sue for damage to her heart if she tried hard enough; the way her hair curled ever so slightly at the ends, causing the small pigtail on the top of her head to form bouncy little wisps, stray pieces falling down to frame her face and...

There had to be a word for this feeling.

Maybe it was lo-

"Luz! "

She slammed onto the breaks abruptly, the air being forced from her lungs as her seatbelt locked and her car groaned in protest. An uneasy squeak of rubber popping and skidding against rubber filled her ears as her brakes raked sharply against her tires, adrenaline ripping through her bloodstream as her heart rate suddenly spiked.

A bright, gleaming red light stared back at her tauntingly, filling the car with an eerie scarlet glow.

A truck zoomed by, on the adjacent road.

The two of them remained silent for a long moment, heavy breathing filling the car around them as they slowly processed what'd just happened--or moreso what could've just happened. The sudden, bubbly trill of a giggle rang through the air. Luz turned to Amity, who had lowered her forehead to the dashboard, a hand clutching at the fabric over her heart as her shoulders shook.

No, Luz decided. It wasn't love. Infatuation, perhaps. But not love.

Not yet, at least.

"I swear, Luz ," she breathed in between laughs, her voice airy and light, the way Amity had said her name sending tendrils of butterflies through Luz's stomach, "you're going to be the death of me."

Luz wasn't quite certain if Amity meant that as a bad thing.