Garnet slowly approached the full-body mirror on the wall of her room. In it, she could see her entire six feet and five inches long body being displayed. Every curve, every generous detail on her body all the way down to all the curly hairs in her untamable afro, everything was there for Garnet to inspect and she knew more than well that it all needed to be absolutely perfect.
Tonight, on the single most important night of her - and her girlfriends - lives, nothing could be amiss. There couldn't be a single crease on the black pants and maroon shirt she had chosen to wear for the night, no out-of place makeup could be visible on her face, and most of all: she had to remember to bring her allergy medication. Of course Pearl had informed whoever was cooking at her place about Garnet's allergies, but they were a big and messy family Garnet didn't trust them not to forget it.
Tonight was the first time Pearl's family would meet Garnets parents, and nothing could go wrong. Coincidently, it was also the first time Garnet would meet Pearl's mother, Alexandrite, and it only served to make everything more important. Pearl's six sisters, the oldest of which were in her early twenties, was all familiar faces to Garnet but due to the fact that Pearl's mother traveled a lot Garnet had yet had the chance to meet her.
All in all, this night was very important
"Garnet, are you ready yet?" Garnet's first mother, Sapphire, called. Though the question implied she was ready to go already Garnet knew her well enough to know that she still wouldn't be ready for another twenty minutes.
"Soon!" Garnet called back, reaching over to the drawer and grabbing her cell phone laying there and charging. With a snap of her wrist, she unhooked it from the charging cord and brought it closer to her chest.
Swiping to unlock her locked screen, an old photo of her and Pearl on a picnic in middle school, she went directly to the call screen and typed in Pearl's home number. Normally,she would have called her girlfriend on her phone, but she knowing Pearl, Garnet realised that she was probably running aorund the house and trying to fix every last detial until she deemed it perfect, and therefor wouldn't answer on her smartphone.
She pressed the call button.
For several agonizing moments, all Garnet heard was the signals going through but noone picking up, and she was almost certain that none was actually going to answer. She was just about to hang up and try Pearl's celphone number after all when finally she heared a click on the other end and someone answering.
"Crystal household, Sardonyx speaking. How can I help you?" A slightly stressed voice spoke up on the other end, speaking with the clarity and automacy of someone who had spent many long hours working in a call center.
"Hi Sar! It's me, Garnet. Can I talk to Pearl?" Garnet said, greeting Pearl's second oldest sister when she answered the phone. Sardonyx was twenty three and currely looking for a job to be able to get out of the family home, even though she was in no hurry as her family relations was good and hole. She was the kind of woman that no one could hate, that knew and had great relations with everyone and who was absolutely adored by her family members. Garnet knew Pearl was very close to Sardonyx herself, and often when they were toghether she spoke of how talented Sardonyx was and how she was sure it had to be easy for her to get a job soon.
"Oh hi. Yeah, just hang on minute." Sardonyx replied, her voice smooth and accented. There was a lot of noise in the background, that lead Garnet to belive she was standing in the kitchen, but fortunately ´for her Sardonyx Crystal was one of those people who had a really strong and loud voice, even indoors, and therefore it was no problem hearing what she was saying despite evrything.
As Sardonyx went to fetch Pearl, Garnet was left alone to listen to the various noises that seeped into the speakers. At one point she was fairly sure she heard one or more women arguing over something, the word idiot repeated several times before someone finally picked up the phone again.
"Hello? You still there Garnet?" The lovely, timid voice of Pearl spoke.
"Yeah I'm here" Garnet confirmed. "Was just gonna askmsome questions about tonight"
"Yeah? Well go ahead?" Pearl answered, sighing anf sounding slightly inpatient.
"Who's cooking? And how many of you guys will be there?" Garnet asked, ignoring her girlfriends bad mood and inwardly cringing as she remembered the only family dinner at Pearl's house that she had been forced to sit through.
Pearl's four older sisters had been having a loud conversation that went on for the entire night, occasionally transpiring into angry bickering and mean accusitions before turning back to more friedly approaches. Garnet had made sure to stay out of the discussion.
Pearl's two twin sisters, Sky and Yuri, had been having a silent conversation in sign language, not being able to communicate in any other way since Sky was deaf on both ears from birth. Not knowing sign language Garnet had been unable to join them.
Pearl's half sisters Lapis and Peridot had been having their own fight, though not nearly as loudly, and Lapis had been trying give Peridot the cold shoulder for most of the night. Garnet had no desire to pick sides in their fight, or in any other way get involved.
Pearl's dad had been sitting at the end of the table and eating his dinner, saying absolutely nothing at all, but every now and then picking up his phone to text his girlfriend, Lapis and Peridot mom. Garnet hadn't dared interupt him.
Garnet really, really hoped it wouldn't be that bad.
"Sar, Opal and Rebecca is here. Sugalite went off to god knows where but might join in late and dad picked up Sky and Yuri yesterday." Pearl said softly. "Also I put Sar on cooking and banned Opal from the kitchen. There won't be no nuts in this food that can make you allrgic."
"Sardonyx can cook?" Garnet asked, sounding muldly surprised, and at the same time sighting in relief that Pearl's spaced out big sister Opal were not going to go and put nuts on the food and then forget about it afterwards. Because she knew it would be very typical of Opal to do that, and she guessed Pearl knew too, since she was banned from the kitchen.
"Sardonyx can do anything with instructions. Look, Garnet, I got to go, so I'll see you later!" Pearl didn't even wait until Garnet said goodbye to hang up, leaving the 'call ended' tone blasting into her ear as she tried to say good bye.
"Garnet! We're leaving now so come!" This time it was Garnet's second mother, Ruby that was screaming for her, and for once Garnet didn't waste much time in complying. One final check in the mirror, and she ran down the stairs as quick as she could without tripping, only to see her parents waiting in the hallway by the door.
Sapphire had dressed herself in an aqua blue dress that Garnet was pretty sure she wore to her last birthday and her highly cherished Sapphire necklace she had gotten from her wife on the day of their engagement. Her dyed light blue hair had been tied back into a ponytail, while leaving the bang hanging in front of her face and successfully hiding her blind eye. Garnet had already as a child learned not to ask her mother about it, and to tell people not to ask, as Sapphire was very self-conscious about it, despite it was something she had since birth.
Ruby, Garnet's second mom, had dressed up in a black and red suit that Garnet also remembered from her sixteenth birthday, and around her wrist she had her precious Ruby bracelet that Sapphire had given to her on the one year anniversary of their engagement. Ruby's untamed black afro was just barely kept back with a red sweat band. Seeing her mother out of her gym clothes she used when at work (and more often than not at home) was such a change of pace that Garnet didn't even complain about her mother having a suit but still wearing a sweatband on her head. It would have to do.
"You ready to go?" Garnet asked, looking down at her parents. While she herself was 6 feet and 5 inches tall, her mom Sapphire, the tallest of them, wasn't more than 5 feet and 5 inches, her second mom even shorter.
Garnet was a little scared that her parents would feel intimidated by Pearl's family. Pearl herself was almost 6 feet, and all of Pearl's 4 older sisters was over 6 feet tall. As well. Pearl had half told, half warned Garnet her mother was closer to 7 feet tall, essentially a giant, but Garnet couldn't know if it was true, since she never met the woman. At least Garnet knew Pearl didn't get her height from her father, who was only 5 feet and 7 inches, maybe a little less.
"We're ready. Let's go!" Ruby exclaimed, grabbing Garnets arm and practically dragging her out to the car, Sapphire following closely behind and hitting her on the arm every time she tried to grab onto her too, telling her she was a grown woman and could walk to the car on her own. She did Garnet no favours, though, and didn't tell her release her.
Garnet sincerely hoped this night wouldn't go to hell.