Changes

Chapter Twenty-Five

Luz

We had been walking for a while in the silence of the night. It was peaceful just simply hearing the sounds that surrounded us in the dead of the night. The scuffing of our shoes and the sound of our slow breaths filling in the quiet. It was nice. I found myself looking toward her. Watching her just move naturally. Seeing her without the weight and wall she usually held. Looking at her like this did something to me that I couldn't describe. It was a light feeling in my chest. She turned to look at me catching me in the act.

"You're staring at me again Noceda." Again she says. Saying that word lets me know that she assumes I ever stopped looking at her in the first place. And if she believed that was true, then she would be wrong. I haven't been able to bring myself to look away. "The same way you were back there. You got something you want to share with me? Something you want to say?" She lifted a brow and I felt at a loss for words. I hadn't meant to get caught and now I felt a warmth spread across my face. I stared at her while I thought of something to say.

"Are you ever going to answer me or will I forever be left wondering?" She said after a few moments of silence. Yeah, no, my brain is not functioning. I cannot think of any rational response to give her. So I dodge the question.

I looked towards a park in the distance and felt the child inside me light up. "Come on, Blight. Last to the swings is a rotten egg!" After saying that I watched the confusion grow on her face before darting toward the park. I looked back to see the realization dawn on her face before she started to chase after me. "Oh no, you don't Noceda!"

I started to laugh, but then I realized how fast she was catching up. I turned my head to look in front of me, running more quickly. I almost made it to the swings when I heard the running stop. Only to suddenly get tackled to the ground. I landed in the wood chips hard before turning on my back. Amity rolled beside me also falling to the ground hard.

We turned towards each other making eye contact. Before I could get up she jumped on top of me pinning me down and holding my wrists beside my head. "Never challenge me Noceda. You'll never win." She was breathing heavily and so was I. I tried to move from her grip but she was stronger than she looked. "Don't even try Noceda." She smirked down at me and I felt even more out of breath if that was even possible.

She looked nice in this lighting. The moon and the stars behind her with the street lamps lighting up and casting shadows while reflecting light beautifully around her. And for a small fraction of a moment, seeing her like this, I almost couldn't breathe. Air, there was no air around me that she didn't take. I swallowed hard and gripped my hands into fists. I was holding back that pulling in my brain. A tug gnawing at me from the inside. She looks good. I already knew that. My brain had previously established that this had been true earlier.

"You've been quiet most of the night, Noceda. That's so unlike you. What's going on in that head of yours?" She tilted her head in curious amusement.

My brain had come up with the answer and my mouth spoke before I wanted it to. "You want to know what I'm thinking of?" I asked softly. My tone of voice caught her off guard but she nodded nonetheless. "I'm thinking of you Amity Blight," I stated honestly. My voice, lowering further in volume.

Her eyebrows scrunched together. "What about me Luz Noceda?" She said huskily, leaning closer to me, and I wasn't sure if she'd meant to do it or not. I couldn't finish my sentence. I simply froze. All motor functions halted. She has no idea things are changing for me at this current unfolding moment in time, does she? She thinks everything is normal. That these new interactions are simply a development, a small change, not a change significant enough to lead my heart to do things it shouldn't as it is now. It was almost a joke at this point. One I didn't feel like laughing at. How clueless she was to how I felt about her right now, how she'd been making me feel.