"Um….Amethyst?"
The purple gem turned around from the open fridge and saw a tall figure standing in front of her. "Oh, hey Pearl. What up?" she asked before turning her body and her attention back to the open appliance. She continued to grab a few items
"Can I….ask you for some help?" Pearl asked. Her words were shaking, just as she was. In her hand, she was holding a small piece of paper.
"Help on what? I'm a bit busy making second breakfast here," Amethyst finished pulling almost all of the food out of the fridge. She then carefully took the tower of food toward the counter. She bumped the door closed with her rear.
Pearl was visibly uncomfortable as she looked at the small piece of paper in her hand. "It's about….that girl from the musical concert," Pearl explained.
Throwing the various foods on the counter, Amethyst started to group the different food into groups that might only make sense to her. "Oh, that one pink-haired chick with the bike? She seemed cool," Amethyst off handedly mentioned as she focused most of her attention to the food.
"That's the problem," she looked down at the paper in her hands, "I think she might not think me 'cool' or whatever humans call it."
"Uh-huh," Amethyst said bored as she continued her food related task. "Do you remember if we have any more sriracha?"
"You drank it last night for your midnight snack," Pearl answered.
Amethyst thought and remembered, "Heh, oh yeah…."
"Now Amethyst, please, can you help me?"
With a sigh, the purple humanoid looked up at Pearl, "Alright, what'cha need help with, nerd?"
Pearl became a little flustered at both Amethyst's statement and her own answer, "I want you to help me be less of….well, a nerd!" Her voice had an almost frantic sound to it.
"Pfffttt, too late for that," Amethyst joked.
"Amethyst! This is serious! I….I want to someone that she would like to be around," Pearl admitted. She looked down at her hands and the paper in them. Opening it up, she looked at the numbers written down on it.
Looking at Pearl, Amethyst almost wasn't sure if she was messing with her with that statement. "For reals?"
Pearl nodded.
"And why are you asking me for help?"
"Because, you understand human culture and mannerisms in ways that I still have yet to master after all these millennia."
Amethyst smiled, "Yeah, you do kinda suck at that stuff."
Pearl blushed fiercely.
"Alright, let's do this then. Let's start with what ol' pink-hair likes," Amethyst took a quick pause and eat some of the food on the counter. For some of the items, it included the packaging. After swallowing, she spoke again, "So, what does she like?"
"Well…." Pearl trailed off, "I guess she likes motorized bicycles…."
"Those are called motorcycles, Pearl…." Amethyst gave a disbelieving stare.
"Right, motorcycles….and she liked….music."
"Well, duh….we saw her at Mike Krol's show."
A light switch seemed to turn on in Pearl's head, "Wait, that's it! Musical concerts! That's how I can connect with her!"
"Come again?"
Pearl grabbed onto Amethyst's body as she happily explained, "This girl likes music right? Then I can continue meeting with her at these concerts and we can become friends!"
"Great…." Amethyst gave an uninterested response, "Can I go back to eating?"
"Oh, but I don't know anything about this," Pearl lamented and let go of her hold on Amethyst, "I don't know anything about musical concerts, or the kind of music that she enjoys."
"Yeah, too bad you didn't go to shows with Greg and me back in the day," Amethyst said as she continued to eat the food she had taken out.
Pearl smiled and grabbed onto Amethyst's cheeks. "That's it! You can teach me!" She was unable to hide her excitement.
"Please let go of me."
She let go of her. Pearl started to move around happily, "You can teach me all you know about musical concerts! Oh, there must be so much that you can teach me! Such as what to expect at the venue, what kind of musicians play, how the audience behaves, oh it sounds so much fun!"
Amethyst stared. "You what me to teach you? About shows?"
"Musical concerts, yes."
Amethyst rubbed the back of her neck, "Look Pearl, it's been a while since I've really been big on the scene. And when I was, it was mostly because Greg took me to shows. Well, when I say 'took me to shows', I mean more of 'snuck me in'."
"Sneaking into musical concerts? Is that a sort of ritual for these things?" Pearl asked, almost as if she wanted to take notes about it.
"What? No. It was so Greg wouldn't have to pay for the both of us. That $10 cover charge can really add up when you go to as many shows as we did back in the day," Amethyst recalled, "And they're called 'shows', not 'musical concerts' or whatever."
Pearl nodded, hanging on every word. "And what about the audience? What do they do once they are inside the venue?"
"Huh? I guess they do whatever? Dang, why do I have to teach you about this junk? Uh, well Greg and I used to always hang out with the people there. Most humans at the shows were really cool. Sometimes the musicians were there chatting with us. I remember we hung out with this one guy Thomas Gabel or something. Really awesome guy. Wonder what he's up to now. Anyway, they just hang out and then dance around when the band plays."
"Oh, dance! I like a fusion dance?"
"Haha, not even close. It's called moshing. Remember when I told you about the 'playful pushing', as you called it? It's not all that playful. I've seen some guys leave the pit with bloody noses and smiles on their faces," Amethyst smiled as she reminisced, "Maybe I do miss the energy of the punk shows."
Pearl had a concerned expression on her face, "These humans would harm each other….for fun?"
Amethyst shrugged, "A lot of these shows are 'in the moment' kind of things. Don't know how to explain it without you really being in the pit itself."
Pearl wanted to change the subject, "What about the musicians?"
"What about them? Some of them are pretty cool peeps. Greg took me to see a lot of awesome bands," Amethyst started to recall, listing them each with a finger to count them, "Lemme see….Wavves, The Sounds, Best Coast, The Descendents, Suicide Machines, NOFX, Bomb The Music Industry, Skankin' Pickle, Blink-182 before they got that new guy, Against Me, Sleater-Kinney, Bad Religion, Less Than Jake, Suburban Legends, I think I remember Greg telling me that he followed Snot around on their tour."
"How do humans come up with these names?" Pearl to herself aloud.
"Oh, those aren't even the best names!" Amethyst seemed excited to share some other names, "There are a few bands that have names that you would normally wouldn't let me say in front of Steven!"
"Amethyst, please! Let's try to keep this on topic! Sorry, I brought it up!" Pearl really didn't want to know any more.
She simply shrugged, "So, now you know about the shows, what's next?"
Pearl thought for a moment and then answered, "Well….what do you think the girl would like?" Her face became flushed, "I….I want to be into the music she likes…."
"Ol' pink hair?" Amethyst asked.
She nodded.
Amethyst looked directly at her fellow gem. "Pearl, look at me."
She did as she was instructed.
"Do you really like this chick?"
Pearl nodded.
"Then don't sweat it."
This confused Pearl, "Huh?"
Amethyst resumed eating her food. She talked between bites, "Look P, this gal won't care if you're into the same junk as she is. If she likes you, it's because she likes the you that you are. That sounds weird." She took a moment, and reworded her statement, "Don't be something you're not just to make someone like you. I mean, look at me. There's no way I'm exactly like you, and you're totally nothing like me, but I still like ya for you."
"Do you really mean that?" Pearl asked.
"Yeah, you're a complete nerd, but I still like hanging out with ya even though you're not as cool as me," Amethyst smiled.
"Not that, about me just being myself."
"Yeah," she pointed to the paper in Pearl's hands, "I mean, you had to do something right to get those digits."
Looking down at the piece of paper in her hands, Pearl smiled brightly, "Maybe she likes me back."
"Yeah, maybe you're not a complete nerd," Amethyst joked.
Pearl blushed and gave the shorter gem a hug, "Thank you for the vote of confidence."
Amethyst replied as she shoveled more food into her mouth, "Don't mention it."
Pearl turned to leave but stopped herself, "Oh, but I do have one more favor to ask, Amethyst."
"What?" she asked with food in her mouth.
"Can you teach me how to use a phone?"
END