Night-Owl Trucking

Monday, 10:05pm

Amity stared out the windshield, still and silent, hardly blinking as she watched the tiny darting insects flit around the lampposts along the sidewalk in front of the Buttonwillow Rest Area. Motion caught her eye, drawing her gaze to the side view mirror on her door; a small pool of light traveled the length of the trailer, and the short silhouette drawn by the flashlight disappeared around the back of the rig. Another minute later, the truck rocked to one side as Luz clambered up into the cabin and pulled her door shut with a slam and a sigh. "So... that happened," the tanned girl said with a frown, sending a hesitant side-eye toward her new friend.

The pale girl nodded.

Luz watched her stare with vacant eyes toward the small single-story building just beyond the curb and gently asked, "Are you okay?"

Amity looked at her, her golden gaze narrowing slightly as she caught sight of Luz's face, noticing her sitting there, then she hummed a questioning note.

"Are you alright, Amity?" Luz repeated, then asked, "Do you... want to talk about it?"

The green-haired girl shuddered and said, "Can we not talk about it?"

Luz opened her mouth twice, and both times words failed to appear. "But, we can't just—" she began, when Amity interrupted.

"Ever."

The brown-haired girl turned slightly to face Amity, "We should discuss what we—" she cut herself short at the savage back-and-forth shake of the taller girl's head.

"We should take this to our graves!" the golden-eyed girl hissed through clenched teeth. She had a wild, frantic look in her eye.

"Whoa, Amity, listen," Luz held out a hand toward the other girl, a calming gesture that caught the wide pair of golden eyes. "I'm not proud of what happened in there, but we shouldn't—"

"I will never," the pale girl shivered as she spoke, "ever forget what we saw."

"I'm sorry," Luz said, sorrow heavy in her voice.

Amity looked up and saw the heartbreak written on the other girl's tanned features, the failure weighing down her shoulders. It wasn't her fault! she thought as she shook her head, catching those shining brown eyes. "It's not your fault," Amity repeated aloud quickly, longing to reach out and hold the other girl's hand that hung out over the aisle. She wished she could give Luz the comfort she needed, but was it her place? Would it be welcomed, or had she let her little crush on the tiny brown-haired girl cause her to misread all of their interactions this evening? She probably had; love-struck Amity was notoriously unreliable. She had proven it scientifically back in high school. She blinked— Luz was talking, and you weren't even paying attention!

"—know that, I'm just... embarrassed." Luz sighed, slumping back in her seat as she looked down at her hands. "At my reaction!" she groaned, shaking her clawed fingers in the air.

"It could have been me," Amity pointed out, her voice soft and gentle.

Luz had begun examining her fingernails as she muttered, "I thought I'd seen everything by now."

"It should have been me," Amity pressed, "I'm sorry, Luz."

"You hired us for our expertise," Luz sneered, then scoffed as she sighed, "Some expert I am. I failed you."

"No!" Amity raised her voice—just enough—to catch Luz's eye, "You didn't fail me!"

Luz rolled her eyes, "If you say so."