you kept me like a secret [lumity au]

All Too Well

Just between us, do you remember it
all too well?

-

The next time Luz saw Amity, it was during Christmas break. New Year's Eve had come and gone, leaving the lingering remnants of festivities and traces of confetti strewn across the neighbor's lawn, half-covered in snow from when a few young kids from a nearby party had pulled those loud, mini-firework poppers at midnight.

It was New Year's Day, now. A numbing silence had settled across the small town, an echoing bird call the only sound as Luz exited her home early that morning.

Snow was thick on the ground at this point, replacing the rich warm colors of fall with a quiet, vibrant cold. Blues and whites were common, reflections of sunlight blinding wherever she went.

Luz's car was finally fixed, but she had yet to drive on icy roads--her mom forbade her from driving without her.

The fact that she decided to walk all the way to the edge of town that day--to the park situated several miles away through thick layers of snow--was perhaps a small act of insanity.

She needed to see it in this weather. The Owl House. She wondered if the large section of river had frozen over, or if the groundwater spring from a few towns over made the water warm enough year round to avoid the inevitable ice.

Perhaps it was the need to see the pretty clearing in the snow and ice, but maybe Luz was sort of hoping Amity might be there, as far-fetched and naive as that was.

It was supposed to be far-fetched, at least. It was supposed to be naive.

When she walked past the layers of evergreen trees and bare skeletons of oaks, she saw a familiar figure.

Her breath caught in her throat.

Amity was gorgeous in the snow. Her hair was matching with her outfit, a soft purple color.

Alerted of her presence by the betrayal of crunching snow, Amity turned, her eyes locking onto Luz.

"Hey," Luz said, her voice flat. Emotionless out of fear of what any stray grip of warmth may bring.

"Hey," Amity replied, her eyes slipping off of Luz and back off to the water.

It wasn't frozen, Luz noted. Instead, it almost appeared as though a steady layer of steam was drifting across the surface. A simple side effect of the year-long temperature clashing with the freezing air.

"I didn't think you'd be here," Luz admitted. It was only half a lie.

"I wouldn't have expected you to be here either," Amity replied.

The silence was tense, awkward. A sharp contrast to the usual comfort of each other's presence.

"How have you been?" Luz heard herself ask.

"Fine."

Luz looked out over the water, her feet seeming to move on their own as she walked down to where Amity stood. Right along the edge of the water. Right where her impromptu confession about hidden feelings had occurred months earlier.

"I missed you, at the Christmas party," Luz said, "Eda brought cake."

"I know," Amity said, "I saw the pictures on Instagram."

"Hm."

The two stood there for a long while, staring out over the fog-covered water. If Luz were being honest with herself, she thought it was even prettier than the bright fall colors.

Autumn was warm and familiar, the colors painting an abstract painting with the reds and oranges and vibrant reflections against the water. Winter, though, seemed more ethereal than anything. Ice and snow painted a sharp reflection of light, the few colors occurring simply due to the frozen icicles that bordered the water, on tall trees and in upper branches.

Luz found her gaze drifting over to Amity, gazing across her with a strange, detached heartache.

"You're beautiful," Luz found herself saying, "every little piece."

Amity's face erupted in a blush. Familiar and perfect in every little way as she turned to face Luz.

"You're... just saying that."

"No," she confessed, "even with everything going on with your parents, I still find myself thinking about how much I love you."

It was scary saying it out loud, knowing what she did about Emira and Viney.

"Please don't say that," Amity begged, "I don't... I don't want to lose you. Not like this."

"And neither do I."

Other people could call it what they wanted. Luz didn't care.

If it took several years for the two of them to officially become a thing, to wait until they both graduated and escaped--far away from this small town and the close-minded people who lived here--she didn't mind. Waiting didn't seem so terribly bad.

She heard Amity's boots crunch against the white snow, and warm arms wrapped around Luz so suddenly she almost lost her balance and fell into the river right then and there.

Amity's body fit against hers perfectly, like two puzzle pieces finally coming together.

"I love you." she whispered, and somehow that confession was everything.

-

Just between us, I remember it

all too well.