Author's Note: I do not own Steven Universe.

"Garnet's taking me out to dinner tonight!"

Steven was telling this to the two people within earshot at Fish Stew Pizza. Jenny was working the counter, her dad and grandmother in the back, actually making the pizzas while her sister was off delivering them. Sour Cream sat at one end of the counter, playing a mobile game on his phone; despite this, it was clear he was still listening and paying attention to the younger boy.

"I take it that you don't do that often?" he said.

"No!" said Steven. "Sometimes Amethyst tags along with me to get food from the boardwalk, but they never go out of their way to take me to a restaurant. The last time that happened, we were meeting Connie's parents."

"So, is there any special reason why you're going tonight?" Jenny asked.

"I don't know," said Steven. "Garnet just told me this morning that she was taking me to dinner tonight, straight out of the blue. She didn't tell me why, but hey, I'm not questioning it." He took another bite of his pizza.

Another customer entered. It was Lars.

"Hey Lars!" Steven yelled, waving.

Lars groaned but nevertheless sat down at the counter, between Steven and Sour Cream.

"What can I get you, Lars?" Jenny asked.

"Erm… I'll have two slices of cheese," Lars responded. Jenny put his order in front of him. "Hey, uh… I was wondering," he said, "if you'd like to go out for dinner tonight."

"I've got plans," Sour Cream said, not looking up from his game.

"Wha—I wasn't talking to you!" Lars sputtered. "I was talking to Jenny!"

"You're asking me out on a date?" said Jenny.

"Well, uh… yeah."

"What?" said Steven. "But what about you and Sadie? Did you break up?"

Lars gave a sigh of frustration. "Look, Steven, Sadie and I were really ever together in the first place. And after everything that's happened between us, I doubt we ever will be. We're fine working together and just being friends, but anything beyond that… would be a bad idea."

"That's surprisingly mature of you, Lars," Jenny remarked. "It's a far cry from that 'look out for number one' attitude from a few years back."

"Uh, thanks," Lars sputtered self-consciously. "So, uh… do you want to go on a date tonight?"

Jenny shrugged. "Sure, okay."

"Really?" said Lars, sounding surprised that she accepted. "Great!"

"So, where are we gonna go and when are we gonna go there?"

"Oh!" said Lars, who had obviously forgotten that pertinent information. "Um, how about the White Wall Grill at 6:15?"

"Yeah, that sounds good," said Jenny.

"The White Wall Grill?" said Steven. "Hey, that's where I'm going for dinner!"

"What?" Lars exclaimed, swiveling around to look at Steven. "You mean tonight?"

"Yeah! Garnet's taking me!"

"At 6:15?"

"Around that time, yeah."

The color drained from Lars' face. He turned back to Jenny. "Um… perhaps we could reschedule? Or change the venue?"

"Oh no you don't," Jenny said crossly. "If you ask me out for a specific time and place, you don't get to change it just so you can avoid Steven."

Lars groaned. "Okay, fine," he said. "But I don't want him bugging us."

"No problem," said Steven. "I'll probably be talking to Garnet the whole time." He hopped off the stool. "Anyways, I'm going to get dessert."

He went outside and made his way to the Big Donut.

"Hey Steven!" Sadie said as he walked inside.

"Hey Sadie!" Steven replied. "One jelly-filled donut, please!"

"Sure thing," Sadie said, grabbing a donut and putting it into a bag.

Steven fished around in his pocket for some money. "Sorry to hear about you and Lars."

"What? What about us?"

"That you're not dating."

"Oh," said Sadie. "No, we're not… That trip to that island kind of put a strain on our relationship. But we managed to stay friends. Which is good, because we're still co-workers." She gave a small smile. "So, what brought this on?"

"Well, I was just at Stew Fish Pizza, and Lars asked Jenny out on a date."

Sadie, who was just about to put Steven's money into the cash register, paused. "He did?"

"Yeah," Steven said. He chuckled. "Funny story; they're actually going to the same restaurant that me and Garnet are going to tonight! At the same exact time!"

"Really?" said Sadie. "And exactly where and when would that be?"

"The White Wall Grill at around 6:15," said Steven. He shrugged. "It's just one of those funny coincidences. Well, bye!"

Grabbing his donut, he exited the store, stopping briefly to hold the door open for Ronaldo. "Hey Ronaldo!"

"Huh? Oh, hi, Steven!" Ronaldo said. But Steven was already merrily skipping home, thinking about how much fun he'd have that night.

At 6:15, Lion materialized in front of the White Wall Grill with two riders. Steven and Garnet hopped down and headed inside.

"Hi Steven!" Jenny greeted them. She and Lars were still waiting to be seated.

"Hi Jenny!" Steven said cheerfully. "Heya, Lars!"

Lars scowled and tried to ignore him, but caught the disapproving look from his date. "Hi, Steven," he said through a strained smile.

"Greetings," said Garnet. "I hope your evening has been pleasant so far."

"Well, we only just started," said Jenny. "Though admittedly, we've been waiting for a bit long."

"And I made sure we leave early specifically so this didn't happen!" said Lars, looking directly at Steven.

"Sorry to hear that," Steven said.

"I also apologize," said Garnet. "I hope the rest of this night doesn't cause you too much distress."

The door opened again and two more people entered, ones who were familiar to the others but whom they had not expected to meet that night.

"Sadie! Ronaldo!" Steven said excitedly. "What are you doing here?"

"Yes," said Lars suspiciously. "What are you doing here?"

"We're on a date!" Ronaldo said proudly, putting his arm around Sadie.

"Really?" said Jenny. "You asked donut girl here out?"

"Actually, I asked him," said Sadie. "Ronaldo's not exactly the type of guy who really takes initiative."

"Unless that initiative's in keeping Beach City weird!" Ronaldo exclaimed. "I assume you've all read my blog?"

"Well, uh," Jenny mumbled, "I know you keep talking about it when you're in the restaurant, but I haven't really had the time to…"

"Oh, that's okay!" said Ronaldo. "I can show you right now!" He pulled out his smartphone and began showing Jenny his blog.

A waitress came out. "Sorry about the wait," she said. "We're a bit short tonight; a lot of our staff had mysterious car trouble. But we can seat you now."

"Great!" said Sadie, grabbing Ronaldo away from Jenny. "Lead on! Table for two!"

"Hey!" said Lars. "Me and Jenny were here first!" He paused. "Actually, go ahead and seat them. Steven and the Gem lady too. That way, you can then sit us at a table far away from anyone else."

The waitress seemed a bit unnerved by this rather blunt request, but nonetheless lead Ronaldo and Sadie to their table, then returned and lead Steven and Garnet to theirs.

"Can I get you something to drink?" she asked as she placed the menus down.

"Orange soda!" Steven happily exclaimed.

"Nothing," said Garnet.

"Er, so do you just want water?" asked the waitress. "Because there's no charge…"

"No, nothing," said Garnet. "I'm not thirsty."

"Well then," the waitress said, clearly wishing she was one of the restaurant's employees whose car had refused to start if this type of clientele was coming out tonight. "I'll go check on the other tables, so decide what you want."

Steven looked over his menu, his mind hard at work in deciding what to order. Garnet's menu remained on the table in front of her, unopened.

The waitress returned with Steven's soda. "Are you ready to order?" she asked.

"I'll have the barbecue ribs, please," said Steven. "Oh! And the unlimited salad bar!"

"I will also have the salad bar," said Garnet.

"Okay, do you want an entrée to go with it or…"

"Just the salad bar."

"…Okay," the waitress said. "Well, your ribs will be ready in a few minutes, but you can go ahead and get your salads right now."

"Okay! Thanks!" Steven leapt off his seat and glanced at Garnet. "Aren't you coming?" he asked.

"I'll go when there's less traffic."

Steven looked over to the salad bar; there was nobody there. "Um, okay," he said, and walked to it.

He grabbed a plate and loaded it with salad, cucumbers, croutons, shredded cheese, and a lot of other good stuff. As he was reaching for the ranch dressing, he noticed Sadie waiting behind him.

"Oh!" said Steven. "Sorry, am I holding you up?"

"No, it's fine," said Sadie.

"Okay," said Steven, and he continued building his salad. However, he became aware of another person getting in line. Lars, like earlier, was clearly unhappy, but it wasn't from impatience with Steven filling his plate; instead, his mood was directed at Sadie.

"I know what you're doing," he said.

"I'm getting a salad," Sadie said bitterly.

"Not that! I know it's not just a coincidence that you and Ronaldo showed up at the same time and place as my date with Jenny."

"Steven's here too. Is that also not a coincidence?"

"That's different!" Lars shouted. He then realized that shouting might attract too much undue attention, so he made a concerted effort in lowering his voice. "Look," he said through gritted teeth, "I know you're just trying to make me jealous."

"Or maybe," said Sadie, "you're jealous and trying to put the blame on me for it."

"Well, I'll be heading back to my table now," said Steven hurriedly. He left the two donut shop employees to get their salads and continue their argument.

"I guess I see what you meant by traffic," he said to Garnet when he sat back down. He glanced back over at the salad bar, where said traffic was still sniping at each other, straining to keep to a low volume. "Wow, they're really going at it, aren't they?"

"Yes," said Garnet, getting up. "I'm going to get my salad now."

"But Lars and Sadie are still—oh," he said, watching as the two of them stomped back to their tables, leaving the area clear so that Garnet was able to get her salad without interrupting them.

She returned with a plate filled up with lettuce and nothing else, which she proceeded to nibble on, eating it with her hands. Steven started eating his as well, but his mind kept turning to his fellow patrons' feud. "Do you think they can work things out?"

"Perhaps," said Garnet. "But do not worry about them, or at least not tonight. That is not the task we came here to do."

"Yeah," said Steven, "but I just wish there was something I could do to help them. To make them both happy again."

"I understand your desire, but if there is nothing you can do directly, and if the problem does not affect you directly, and it is not the proper time to interfere besides, it does no good to worry."

"So I should just stop caring about the people I care about?"

"No; you just need to realize that, though your words may guide them, ultimately, it is Lars and Sadie themselves who have to resolve their conflict. So don't get too upset over things you can't control. She ate another leaf of lettuce. "We should find other topics to discuss. For example, perhaps you could update me on what's happening in Crying Breakfast Friends."

"Ooh!" said Steven, perking up. "That's a great idea!" He shoved a forkful of salad into his mouth. "So," he began while chewing, "in the last episode, Sad Waffle and Spilled Milk were at the beach…"