Amy's POV
Amy found them near the refreshment tables — Lumi sipping punch, Risa checking the time on her phone, both of them looking like they were ready to cause trouble if she hadn't shown up in the next five minutes.
"There you are!" Lumi said, eyebrows rising. "We thought you ghosted."
Amy didn't answer right away. She was still… floating.
Risa caught the look on her face. "Okay. What happened?"
Amy blinked, then slowly opened her mouth.
"I have a date," she said.
Both of them froze.
Risa frowned. "With…?"
"Sara," Amy breathed, like saying it aloud might break the spell. "On Sunday."
Lumi actually dropped her cup. It hit the floor with a soft plastic thunk. "Sara Veylan?"
Amy nodded.
"She said yes?" Risa asked, blinking like it was a punchline.
"Not to being my girlfriend," Amy clarified quickly, her voice a little shaky. "Just… to going on a date. She said she doesn't know me. Wants to."
Lumi grabbed her by the shoulders. "Amy, what the hell—tell us everything."
Amy let them lead her out of the estate like she was in a trance, only snapping fully back into herself when they reached the car. The Velvet Specter greeted them with its quiet hum as the doors lifted.
Once inside, buckled up and surrounded by ambient lavender light and silence, the words started spilling.
"We talked," Amy said, hands folded in her lap. "At the garden bench. She didn't know who I was at first. I didn't tell her. It just… happened."
"She didn't know your name?" Risa asked, twisting in her seat.
Amy shook her head. "She said I looked familiar. I told her I was in her class. Sort of. Said I was the quiet type. She… got it."
"And then what?" Lumi demanded; eyes wide.
"We talked. Books. Music. She hates Laziel, by the way."
"Everyone hates Laziel," Risa muttered. "She just has to be polite about it."
Amy almost smiled. "I told her I saw her with him. Said she looked uncomfortable. She admitted it. Rambled, actually."
"And then?" Lumi whispered like they were in a gossip confessional.
"I said…" Amy glanced at her hands. "I said I liked her."
Both girls went silent.
"I didn't plan it. It just came out," Amy continued, voice soft. "And then she looked at me like… like maybe it wasn't insane. Like maybe I wasn't."
There was a pause.
"She said she didn't really know me. But she'd like to."
Lumi let out a slow exhale. "Amy…"
"And then she said she was busy Saturday," Amy added, still stunned. "So, I asked about Sunday. And she said yes. We exchanged numbers. I have Sara Veylan's number."
Risa's laugh came fast and sharp. "You sound like you just met a goddess."
"I did," Amy replied, eyes distant.
The Velvet Specter whispered through the quiet roadways, neon reflections slipping across the windshield. In the rearview mirror, Lumi was still grinning like a proud sister.
"Amy has a date," she sang under her breath. "With Sara. Holy hell."
Amy slumped slightly in her seat, exhaling slowly.
"I wasn't supposed to get this far," she murmured. "I just… needed the moment to happen. The way it did before. But now…"
"But now," Risa said gently, "you made it yours."
Amy stared out the window.
The city passed quietly by — towers like silent sentries, sky bruising with the end of night. And somewhere in all of that, she had rewritten something.
Just a little.
Just enough.
After a while, they arrived at Amy's apartment, still feeling the effects of the party. When they checked the time, they realized it was too late. So, Lumi and Risa called home to spend the night with Amy.
Lumi's voice carried softly across Amy's living room.
"Yeah, I'm with her now. It's too late to head back, I'll just stay here. Okay? Love you."
Risa was pacing nearby, phone pressed to her ear. "Yes, I promise I'll be home by lunch tomorrow. It's fine. No, really, everything's fine. Just… let me stay the night."
Amy sat quietly on the couch, shoes kicked off, still half-lost in the rush of the evening. She heard both girls hang up almost at the same time.
"All good?" she asked.
Lumi flopped beside her, grinning. "All clear."
Risa nodded. "We're officially yours for the night."
The air settled with that finality — not heavy, just soft. Like everything had come slightly undone in the best way.
The three of them didn't bother changing out of their party clothes until much later. When they finally did, it was in that wordless rhythm of close friends: trading turns in the bathroom, sharing oversized shirts, bickering over blankets. By the time they collapsed onto the living room futon and cushions, the stars were fading out of the sky.
Amy lay in the dim light of early morning, staring at the ceiling.
She hadn't dared to dream that far forward. And now…
Sara had said yes.
She had her number.
She closed her eyes.
She slept.