Luc’s eyes went wide as Marie moved in, irrationally thinking for a moment that the girl was about to headbutt her before their lips met.

  The soft curve of Marie’s plush lips didn’t catch her nearly as off guard as the kiss itself. Marie’s lips would be soft. What surprised her was the taste.

  It tingled at the tip of her tongue as her lips parted, head tilting back invitingly. Pomegranate. It was such a bullshit, rich girl flavor that Luc would have rolled her eyes, if they hadn’t been closed. Of course Marie tasted like this.

  A long, piercing whistle broke Luc away from the kiss as Maisey whooped and hollered. Air struggled its way back into her lungs as she stared up at Marie through her lidded gaze, easily ignoring the noise around her.

  Marie stared right back, attention a lightning rod attracting her without relief. Those brown eyes were piercing, the unusual intensity behind them entirely for Luc.

  It struck what little air she’s managed to gulp down back out of her chest. Those weren’t the eyes of somebody kissing her for fun. She’d kissed people for fun, for a little bit of distraction when everything around her was going to shit. As much as she enjoyed it, it never lasted long.

  This wasn’t that. Marie stared at her like Luc was the ocean, and she’d willingly drown.

  It sent a shiver down her spine. What happened to just being rivals? This relationship was being paid for in actual dollars. None of it was supposed to be real.

  She took half a step back, the space between their bodies crackling as they separated. Maisey continued to clap for them, occasionally throwing in a wolf whistle, until Tobias laid a hand on her shoulder. Even he was smirking, and gave her an exaggerated wink as they made eye contact.

  Her face went cold between heartbeats before all the blood roared to her head. “Oh, fuck you,” she said, managing to get a bit of bite into the words. “You’ve never seen two girls kiss before? Grow up.”

  “I’m a bit disappointed it’s over,” Mason said, then wrinkled his nose at his own words. “Not in that way. It was just entertaining watching you two dance around each other for the past few weeks.”

  Maisey spun away from the two, facing them and holding out her hands. “You two have to pay up.”

  Luc felt her eye twitch. “You bet on whether we’d kiss or not?”

  “No, that would be silly,” Maisey said with a quick glance over her shoulder. “We bet on when you would kiss.”

  Was that worse than betting on whether or not they would kiss? Luc didn’t get a chance to decide as the two boys dug into their pockets and paid up, handing over a small collection of loose bills.

  “I’m going to get pizza with this,” Maisey declared, holding the wad of cash—that couldn’t add up to more than ten dollars—up with pride.

  “Hold on, what happened to helping Luc move in?” Mason asked, catching his twin by the arm before she managed to slip away. Where she planned on going, Luc had no idea. It wasn’t like she’d driven her own car here; it was still sitting in the parking lot at school.

  “I helped clean,” Maisey said, motioning at the spotless apartment. Walking into the apartment after leaving for less than an hour to go get her things, she might have thought she’d stepped into an entirely different building. There wasn’t a single cobweb or dust bunny left behind, and no sign of magic either. In a place like this, that was close to a miracle.

  Marie scoffed behind her, so close to Luc’s shoulder she flinched. “I cleaned, you just stood there,” Marie said, crossing her arms over her chest.

  “Because you have that magic wand you can wave and do anything, basically,” Maisey said, letting out a huff. “It’s not my fault you didn’t leave me anything to do. And I did help with the lights and curtains and things.”

  “I still think you can help unpack,” Marie said, crossing her arms over her chest.

  Maisey opened her mouth to say something before Tobias laid a hand on her shoulder. The touch was placating, and enough to quiet her long enough for him to get in a few words. “You can’t exactly take the car to get pizza before the car is unloaded anyway.”

  A sigh slipped from Maisey’s lips before she pulled herself back to her full height and cracked her knuckles. “Guess it’s time to get to work then.”

  “You could always use your magic,” Marie suggested as the five of them walked back out to the pair of cars. “It’s a mage building. I doubt anyone will mind.”

  “I’m not sure my little golems are going to do much here,” Maisey said.

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  “Can you make them any bigger?” Luc asked, grateful for the change in topic. Anything to get the attention away from her and Marie. Not that Marie seemed to mind, practically glowing as they stepped outside, even more than when Luc had agreed to go to the harvest festival with her.

  Guilt twinged inside Luc’s chest at the reminder. She’d have to find some way to make that up to Marie, especially now that they’d kissed. Her plan to ignore it was soundly shattered, and even with her power, she had no idea how to piece it back together.

  She’d have to ask Tobias, maybe. Did he and Maisey even go on dates? He’d never mentioned anything like it. Were dates even necessary if you spent all your time together anyway?

  Luc pushed the overlapping thoughts aside as she popped open her trunk, dragging the first unwieldy cardboard box forward. Before she had a chance to grab it, Marie swooped in like a knight in shining armor, lifting the box onto her shoulder. It wasn’t as effortless as it should have been, without her magical girl form, but she smiled just the same and began the trek back to the apartment.

  Luc glared at the back of her head before grabbing the next box and following.

  They made short order of moving everything inside, then began unpacking the boxes themselves as Maisey took off with Tobias’s truck to pick up pizza.

  One of the great things about the apartment was the amount of storage it had. For a place built almost entirely to house mages temporarily, Luc had expected it to be bare, but there were bookshelves and cabinets aplenty. There was even a desk, even if it was a little small for her tastes. It quickly filled up as she set out everything she thought was important to have immediately at hand. School textbooks, her toolbox, duct tape, a detailed mechanic’s guide she looked at when she had spare time.

  The bookshelf beside her desk filled up next, but only partially with books. Most of the shelf space was taken up with old tools and half-made contraptions. Now that she wasn’t working for her mom anymore, she should have more time for her inventions. Maybe she’d even be able to build tools ahead of time again, rather than being forced to patch everything together on the fly. Not that she hated doing that, but it would be nice to be prepared for once.

  As they unpacked, Marie always seemed to be there, just a step away or brushing up against her. When Luc looked at her, there weren’t any guilty expressions. In the same vein, she wasn’t smirking either, proud of herself. Each and every glance was earnest, accompanied by a smile that made Luc’s heart skip a beat.

  Marie actually liked her. At least that was how it seemed.

  The idea was terrifying.

  Maisey got back with the pizzas a few minutes after the sun set, leaving them amidst the careful glow of the twinkling lights Marie and Maisey had strung around the apartment.

  The only thing the tiny apartment was missing was a table, so they settled onto the wooden floor, tearing off pieces of the pizza box to use as plates for their makeshift picnic.

  Luc swallowed a bite of bubbling, greasy cheese before looking around at the group. Her friends.

  It was tough calling them that, but she really couldn’t call them anything else. Tobias had taken her in and put up with her when she was being difficult. Even though they weren’t close, Mason still showed up to help her move in. Maisey took every opportunity to make her smile, and was always there to help out. Marie…

  Luc shot a glance at the girl, accidentally making eye contact.

  Her attention snapped back to the others, unable to look at her rival for long without her heartbeat quickening.

  She took another bite of pizza before setting her makeshift plate down and clearing her throat. The sounds of eating faded off into silence as everyone gave her their attention.

  “I just wanted to say thank you,” she said, the words growing thick in her throat as she spoke. “I… I don’t think I deserve this, but I’m glad you’re all here.”

  “We’re glad to be here too,” Tobias said. He nudged her with the toe of his boot from across the floor, a crooked grin on his face. “Aren’t you glad we don’t scare easily?”

  A chuckle rattled free of Luc’s cobwebbed chest. “I am. I definitely am.”

  They fell back into silence as they finished off the pizza, leaving nothing but a pair of empty boxes behind that Tobias took with him when he left. He and Mason had basketball practice early in the morning before school, with basketball season rapidly approaching. Maisey went with them, needing to head back to school and pick up her car.

  Luc expected Marie to follow, but the girl stuck around. She stood up, brushing the crumbs off the front of her skirt before taking a quiet tour of the apartment.

  “This is a surprisingly nice place,” Marie said, running her finger across the kitchen counter. “When I saw it from the outside, I expected it to be a dump.”

  “Me too,” Luc admitted as she rose. She stared at Marie for a few moments, wondering how to close the distance before she retreated. A few steps brought her to the bed, the mattress delightfully springy as she sat down on it. She slid onto her back, letting herself relax. “I’ve never had a space of my own like this before.”

  Her bedroom in her mom’s house was tiny, so cramped there was barely enough room to have a bed and still be able to walk around. She’d be able to do so much here.

  Footsteps softly approached before Marie reached the edge of the bed, peering down at Luc. Emotions and impulses flashed across her face as Luc waited, eyebrows raised in question.

  Without saying a word, Marie laid down on the bed beside Luc, their arms brushing at their sides. It was a far cry from the kiss earlier, yet it somehow electrified Luc, goosebumps rising all over her body.

  Marie shifted over onto her side, propping herself on one elbow to look at Luc.

  Luc slid an arm underneath her head, supporting her view. It really wasn’t a bad view.

  Marie sucked in a breath, then spoke. “I’m going to kiss you again.”

  Luc gave a quick nod of her head as Marie came in for a second kiss, a hand coming up to cup the side of Luc’s face. She leaned into the touch, letting herself get lost in it.

  When Marie finally pulled away, completely out of breath, she flopped back onto the bed. Chest heaving, Luc leaned into the girl’s side, content to stay there under the twinkling lights.

  All in all, it wasn’t a bad way to spend the first night in her new apartment.

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