you kept me like a secret [lumity au]

just between us

Just between us, did the love affair maim you all too well?

-

The café was tucked away at the edge of the outlet mall near the high school. Soft, earthy colors filled the space, making it seem cozy and warm year-round, like an eternal spot of summer no matter the weather.

It was a Wednesday, and despite Christmas being only a few days away the café held that midweek quiet. There were only a couple of other people in the small space, shrouded with plants and the thick scent of coffee grounds.

The smell was so overwhelmingly familiar that Luz almost walked out right then and there. The last time she'd had coffee...

Coffee at midnight. A soft stolen kiss, followed by hushed giggles as they poured the caffeinated beverage into old, chipped mugs and stole kiss after kiss after kiss. Amity's lips had tasted like coffee by the end of the night, lined with sugar and cream and filling Luz with an overwhelming sense of love.

Luz forced herself to take a step forwards, brushing the memory off desperately as she looked up to the hand-written menu.

She didn't know why she'd come here. Maybe she'd just been desperate to get out of the house, to go somewhere new and different. To snap herself out of the pitiful haze she'd driven herself into.

"Luz? Is that you?"

Luz's voice caught in her throat as the barista greeted her, and she suddenly had the overwhelming urge to flee.

Emira was just as pretty and confident as she remembered, a smile painted onto her face as she leaned over the counter and peered across the lines of coffee machines.

"It feels like it's been forever! How's it going, cutie?"

Luz couldn't help but blush at the silly, childish nickname the Blight twins had decided to bestow upon her.

"It's going," she replied, reluctantly approaching the counter, "I didn't know you worked here."

Emira's smile never left her face as she moved, adjusting the strange, iPad-register thing that most cafés seemed to have now, "Well, I only just started the other week. I had to get a second job to help pay rent. You know how it goes."

Luz recoiled at that, "Yeah... Amity told me what happened. I'm sorry about that."

Emira just brushed it off, "It's no biggie, I get to live with Viney now. And I don't have to deal with Mom's insistence on hovering over my bank account. It's chill."

Luz nodded, although the bitter sting of pity still clung to her chest.

"So, did you know what you want?" Emira asked, tapping a few things on the register.

"Oh, um..." Luz looked over the menu again, zeroing in on the special holiday drinks, "Could I have a small Sweater Weather, please? With soy milk."

Emira nodded, typing it into the register and moving to the machine to make the drink.

"Wait, I still have to pay?"

"Nope. I got it covered!" Emira called.

The machine whirred, and Luz found herself lingering in front of the counter, a bit lost on where to go and wait. Should she stay to talk with Emira, or let her do her job...?

"Are you sure?" Luz asked, watching as Emira carefully poured the frothy milk substitute into the to-go coffee cup.

"Yep!" Emira piped, pressing the lid closed on the cup, sliding it across the counter to Luz. "I... That was your scarf at the apartment, right?" Emira asked suddenly.

Luz took the drink, carefully gripping the small, cardboard heat guard, "Yeah. I was wondering what happened to it."

"I think Edric gave it to Amity, thinking it was hers," she confessed. "About Amity..."

Luz could feel the shift in tone, and knew where the conversation was headed.

"You like her, don't you?"

"Of course."

It was so overwhelmingly simple to say, even now.

She liked Amity. Of course she did, she'd be crazy not to.

"I know she can be... guarded at times," Emira said, folding her arms under her and leaning against the stone counter, "she likes to cut people off under the guise of 'protecting' them. Give it time, she'll pull through."

Luz hoped so.

She only nodded, numbly sipping on the warm drink in her hands.

It tasted like pumpkin pie.