What We Do at the Beach
Smooth and round, reflective and transparent, some are whole while others lay broken. The pieces of which were lost forever between the cracks of the pile. Organized with such precision you could chart the passing of years (or decades even) from top to bottom.
Someone had touched her stuff. No one touches her stuff.
A quaint scene of a snowman on a hill is sent soaring through the air from a heavy pitch. Its dome shatters and bleeds a clear liquid and false snowflakes over a dresser that's been mistreated by time and careless storage. The rest of the snow globes are distributed with equal amounts of care; sometimes one at a time, sometimes in armfuls.
Do I gotta put a sign over my door? Seems like it, but then again, it's not like it would stop her from bustin in and messing with my stuff. She could set traps, but that might be dangerous for Steven if he came to see her, then again, he was more respectful about not coming into others rooms uninvited. Besides I don't want to give P a reason to be mad with me. As of late things had been going so swimmingly between them; and she meant that with no sarcasm what-so-ever; truly, she did. Jokes had been cracked about how uptight her partner could be, that a plunger would be needed to suck that ever-present wit out through that lengthy schnoz. Wise cracks such as these would always be a part of their routine. That would never change; not hundreds of years ago, certainly, not even now with the change in their relationship.
Amethyst was satisfied that she had thoroughly reorganized her things so she left for a more secluded spot in her room.
The cleanest space, or, the least cluttered area of her room. Flanked by a fridge to the right, with the crushed remains of a bicycle underneath. A sleuth of stuffed bears (chicks liked that kind of romantic smutz right?) to the left. One had crunchy fur, a ripped arm, but both eyes were present unlike some of the others; clear, and shiny, they watched the purple gem fuss and pinch her lower lip between her teeth.
Hands touch the light material. Feathery soft, yet rumpled by thick fingers which struggle to smooth down the sheets; pristine otherwise.
"That's some sweet digs." Pride oozing from that large mouth, she took a step back to take it all in. "Yeah." She mutterd, framing the bed in her fingers. "That's hot." Pearl would definently find a clean bed hot. Being all into that kind of junk.
With things about as good as they were going to get Amethyst bounded towards the closest waterfall draining into her room, and though her legs were stout, they gave her no problem jumping into the current.
Clear images (unhampered by the water), she watched the inner workings of the temple. Solid colored branch like columns supported everything. Bug like things scurry, backs heavy with stalagmites, they use them to traverse the temple. She feed them her leftovers from time to time. They were kind of like weird dogs that had pincers and quadruple the amount of legs.
Amethyst interlocked her fingers behind her head and crossed her legs as the trip came to an end. Not a breath need be taken as her head was the first part of her to breach the surface.
"Yo, P. Guess who?" An eye cracks open like an egg over a pan, big old sparkling iris rolling in her head.
The laws of physics held no control over the inner santums of the temple. In this room water could run anyway it felt like, even up. It could feel as solid as concrete on a sidewalk, or, one could still float about as if in a bathtub.
With a waggle of her foot Amethyst sent herself adrift.
"Heeeeeey, Peeeeeeeee-ya. Where you at girl?" The call lathered with misplaced appeal. Tough to tell when she could add a little spice to her tongue. Trial and error proved useless as Pearl's mood fluctuated like the phases of the moon.
There was no response. Not even when she made the threat of messing with Pearls prized collection of swords. Standing before them, their sharp edges contained within ornate scabbards.
That should have drawn her out.
Amethyst used that brain of hers (a feet Pearl might have insultingly marveled at) to ponder her partners whereabouts, if she's not in her room then theres only one other place she would be. And if she's not with me, and Garnets out on business (Amethysts' lingo for a super tough mission only Garnet could do), then there's only one other person she could be with too.
Rather than fade in jealousy, Amethysts smile grew as a tickle of a laugh caught in her throat, blooming into a manic spasm in her tummy as she made for the temple door.
. . .
The waves slither along the shore, catching the blue of the sky as they lathered the beach with rough kisses, turning high walled sand castles into flat fields. Filling ambitious holes dug by children thinking they could reach the other side of the world. Only two people currently living on this planet could say they've at least made it half way. One was currently engaged in a tender walk with quiet feet, and silent mouths.
Steven happily enjoyed basking in the aura of her serenity and peacefulness.
While she enjoyed the way his feet padded the dry sand aslant (his father had this foot problem, yet the man could still be graceful in a dance), hand interlaced with hers, the energy generated from the contact so exalting she could almost feel her gem ready to burst with euphoria. Yes it made all the difference. Such simple contact made her whole, made her full, and made her so much more.
Pearl struggled to hold back the tears. She kept in mind that they were not tears of sadness, more of that by which a proud parent is simply happy to see their child grow. Soon, maybe to very soon, the hand she held would overtake her own. She felt Steven squeeze. Strong. Reassuring. Unyielding.
Oh my, Pearl found the emotions mounting; much of them being the sappy ones.
Steven felt it, subtle at first, as if testing this new found power, this new step in their relationship. He felt her hand pull his forward, a release of tension, mear weightless. Then, on the backswing she was there again, with another almost imperceptible pull.
Oh how happiness oozed out of the pair like a river of slime down an abandoned New York subway as they swung their hands in tandem. Something new, something grand, something...
So perfect, Pearl beamed down her brightest smile onto the boy by her side. Laugh soaked in geniality; it caught fire and spread to Steven.
That voice-so familiar yet not; like Roses, but not. It had the hint of radiance, but the amount of wonder was Stevens alone. That meaning humans searched for, sometimes all their lives, which she had now discovered, by chance, in the noises this child makes: true happiness.
"Pearl?" The wonderment had left, replaced by worry, but not worry at the same time. Assurance, it seemed, as if he knew what she was going to do next, what-she wanted to do next.
There was a pause. In which she looks into his face. Those cheeks (like Roses). The eyes (his fathers). That hair (the both of them).
"I love you." Pearl crouches to put her arms around him. She realizes too late in the game that she should have done this more often when he was younger; but she hadn't been ready to take this very important step. More than words (said many times, but could have been said more); it was a commitment above being his guardian. Greg knew the role Pearl was destined to fill, Rose probably did too. Did she expect me to take over in her absence? How could she of known that I would feel the same way about him before we had even met? It was Rose; of course she knew I would. She knew me so well.
Steven whispered around her ear, "me too." Those five letters arranged in such a specific way spread warmth throughout her false body.
Hands cradled the boys chin. He felt her fingers shiver, unsure why they would do so. Pearls head tilted forword; she closed her eyes before the hotness of her gem touched his forehead.
When he giggled Pearl felt the apprehension inside, which had been hanging by a thin thread for a while now-snap, letting the net trapping everything scramble to freedom through her mouth, "I love you so much, Steven. I'm proud of you. Of what you've grown into-I wish your mother could have seen the young man you are now." She touched his face, the heat of his cheeks pleasant on her fingers. She patted the swelling of flesh underneath his eyes; eyes which refused to leave hers.
A wet smooch placed upon her cheek, one that only a child full of love could provide.
Tears flow. Steven felt guilty for causing Pearl pain, while Pearl would argue that it was the wrong reasoning behind what had been triggered her emotions.
The world continued to move. Seagulls screeched and hunted for food. The fryers sizzled at the fry shack. While pizzas cooled in the back seat as Jenny payed more attention to the tunes on the radio than getting the delivery out. Greg held guard from his beach chair in front of the carwash. Hands behind his head as he watched the mass of clouds, like a never ending herd of steer, speed by; apparently, in a rush to be anywhere but the boring town of beach city.
Pearl began to presume that the hug should end. Even though Steven was not fidgeting, nor did his embrace slacken. Elation skyrocketing further at the fact that Pearl felt him try to hold on when she went to pull them apart.
The hand touching her forarm gave the gem pause. Steven took advantage to look at the face of his guardian. Long nose and flaring nostrils; they snorted a bit to bite back the blubbering. "Don't cry pearl." Steven reached out to wipe another tear as it escaped. The flesh of his thumb a little itchy.
A nod, "o-kay," Pearl said before she rose. Fixing the sandals in her hand before she reaches for Steven, who meets her more than half way. Happiness sussed out any sadness that tried to hide. Smiles replaced the tears, and soon they were resuming their walk.
Sand shifted under naked feet. Warm, but not warm enough to burn the bottoms of them. No fights. No threats. Not even a pesky seagull wanting to steal a scrap of food. Just the two of them. Alone, but together. Just the two...
"Heeeeeey." The sand at their feet detonates, casting sharp particles into the air. Clothes fair better than bare skin as Steven feels the sand pummel it harshly.
They both cough, Steven catching most of it in his mouth due to being closer to the epicenter.
Pearl rubs her eye, feeling the grains work there way behind them. Disgusting, she shivers at the realization that the sand was...inside her now. She needed to push the thought out of her head.
One eye hidden by her hair while the other gave a seductive wink. "How you doin?" Amethyst chuckles, touching the neckline of her tank top, right on the cut of her gem. Following its outline with a fat digit as rough fingernails tingle her epicenter and causes the hairs to rise on the back of her neck. Concern unapparent for the trouble she had caused, as Pearl nurses the straggling coughs from Steven. His eyes are watering, and turning blood shot. At once the gem rounds on her partner.
One name to convey all the frustration bubbling inside that milky gem. "Amethyst!" Over the years it had lost its edge, maybe it was from repeating it almost on a daily basis, or, it was because their relationship had changed. Her anger fleeting like birds on the edge of the horizon, yet the momentary flair up looked positively seductive from Amethysts point of view.
"I'm-cough-ok." Steven, the boy who tries so much to not be a burden to others manages to get out the last of the sand from his throat. But it is left raw, and dry, and he could really use a drink. He licks his lips in hopes it might help produce enough spit to hold him over.
A hand rubs his shoulder soothingly. Pearl wishes after the fact that she had packed some provisions for their outing. Then again, with the purple gem it is impossible for things to turn out the way Pearl plans. Such as the time they took a simple trip to the grocery store...on second thought, that isn't a memory Pearl would like to bring up. Those men certainly gave me a hard time when I tried to explain to them that the so called living statue scaring people was only Amethyst shape shifting. So quick to draw their weapons. Hmmm, I had assumed that humans had decided it was aesthetically unappealing to carry armaments in the open anymore. They do have a weird sense of evolving fashion. I mean-what if they were to be attacked? But, Oh! Back then their armors were so lovely to look at. Such detail, and the way they embellished them with crystals: marvelous, if completely impractical.
The back of her head shakes slightly, ruffling Pearls pixie cut. Stevens coughing fits have subsided, which meant so to does her anxiety; only by an inch. Pearl still wanted to get him home to flush out of that poor throat.
Hands slide into the slots made from the bones in her hips. Haughtily, she stares down the end of her nose, "any reason why you've decided to interrupt our walk?" Lips dip into a frown when the words seem to bounce off an unlistening ear.
Chubby fingers walk along the sand, collecting it under her fingernails. Amethysts smile is full of teeth and sensuality. As if Pearl thought the gem had the gift to act in such romantic ways. It was more of a buck toothed horse with a hoof full of sickly flowers. Even that had more charm reasons some part in Pearls mind.
Legs tuck tightly as she crouches, her fingers take a few grains of sand and sprinkle them over Amethysts hair like a chef flavoring a dish before it is sent out. Pearls way of getting even.
This had quite the opposite effect as a wink was given instead of any objections to her clearly impolite conduct. A tongue stretched further than logistically possible as it moves like a snake through the air and tickles the underside of Pearls wrist.
The gem recoils with a hiss. Pearl wipes the slickness away while mumbling disapprovingly under her breath.
As an argument rolled to the end of Pearls tongue the last vestiges of summer's heat had finally broken through the clouds causing the sand to begin to bake.
Steven started to hop up and down. "Ouch, ouch, ouch." His mantra did nothing to quell the pain. Instead it only drew his mind further towards it. Increasing the feeling tenfold. The balls of his feet started to throb.
"Here." Pearl said as she laid down his sandals.
Once his feet found the cool comfort of insulated rubber, Steven let out a relieved groan. Back slouching forward. Hands dangling at his sides. Eyes closing half way in reprieve.
Amethyst scratched herself as she laughs at the boy's antics; her legs kicking the air.
"Doesn't that hurt?" Steven asked worriedly as the gem relaxed on the hot beach. Swearing he could hear the sounds of her flesh sizzling like bacon in a frying pain.
In response Amethyst gave a great big yawn, "feels nice really." She purred and patted the spot not two inches from her belly, "join me." She snickered at the boy's horrified face before she held out her hand.
Steven grabbed hold and hoisted her up easily enough, that growing strength still caught her off guard.
He's turning into a tough cookie, no longer jealous, no longer upset that she might one day be looking at his back in the heat of battle rather than it being the opposite. Amethyst was developing a smidgen of pride as she watched him grow. A runt can only go so far, but I will always have your back Ste-man. A small squeeze before she let go of him.
Each of her meaty hands latches onto some part of her head and gave it a hectic shake hoping to shed some of the itchy sand, "this stuff gets everywhere I swear." Amethyst grabs hold of the elastic of her pants, shifting it all about. Playing inappropriate hula hoop in front of them.
Steven laughs, while Pearl rolls her eyes and clucks her teeth.
"Really, Amethyst. That shouldn't be done out in the open."
"Hey man, when you got an itch sometimes you just got to scratch it, right?" Flossing herself with the lining of her pants before dancing a jig to kick the few crumbs she could out through her pants legs. "Dat's better." She cracks a wide grin, shifts her weight then frowns. Amethyst sits on her rump (which starts to sizzle in the sand) and removes her boot, then tips it over and watches as more sand pours out. "Man this stuff gets everywhere. Why we gotta live on a beach anyway? It's too much maintenance."
When she catches Stevens's amusement the boot connects with his chest. He catches it and grimaces when something sticky touches his hand. "Eww." The purplish green piece of gum stretches between his palm and the boots sole; filling Steven from head to toe with a shiver of revulsion.
Pearl searches for something to use to get the gum off, "Don't move Steven, don't touch yourself, just don't-do anything. I'll find a tissue." The beach is empty except for sand and rocks. Unfortunately, beach city had recently gotten funding for a cleanup crew, who were doing too well a job of keeping the beach free of trash.
Watching the pairs struggle wasn't so fun a time. Amethyst wrapped her fingers over her hip and leaned forward to snatch the shoe from Steven's hand.
"What are you doing!" The high note rose all the way to the outer atmosphere of the planet as Pearl clutches her cheek bones in horror.
A big old purple eye rolls, "You two can be such babies." Amethyst scoffs, as she plucks the gum from Stevens palm and pulls it off the bottom of her shoe. Rolls it between her fingers to shape it into a musket ball looking round so that she could shoot it down her throat easier; an unnecessarily loud swallow follows for a piece smaller than a grape.
Still, it carried enough weight to cause Pearl to visibly shun the other from her sight. Arm crossed over her eyes, as her lips clamp shut. As if by seeing such a sight could magically cause a piece the same rotten consistency to hop down her throat as well. A pose so dramatized it belonged on daytime TV.
"Chill, P. Bleugh," that big old jaw opened wide, all sticky with saliva, "see. All gone."
Pearl would not look. Refused to look. Yes, Amethyst was probably telling the truth, but, then again, she might not be as Pearl had fallen for such trickery many times. When would she ever learn?
A hand timidly grabs the end of her leotard which flairs outward much like a short skirt. Pearl peeks under her arm and is met with sincere eyes, and a smile still shaken from bearing witness to the incident. Sure, Steven had seen Amethyst eat things out of the norm before, like rotten food, and dinner plates, or the time she mistook the training wheels on his bike for donuts. Yet there was something so filthy about a piece of used gum. It had been in someone's mouth, and maybe that mouth hadn't even been Amethysts own. Who knows how long it had been on the bottom of her shoe. What-treasures it had picked up along the way. Oh man, I don't feel good.
Steven lurches forward enough for his hands to grab his stomach to keep everything inside from coming back up; although it does force out a burp.
Pale blue ballet flats slide away, "Please don't-expel anything in front of me Steven." Pearl bargains, pleads, if she knew how to pray, she would have. Knowing that whatever wanted to come back up from a humans belly wouldn't look as-picturesque as it did going down.
A thick swallow, enough to subdue (at least he hoped it could) the nauseous feeling. Steven wipes the sweet from his brow. "I'm ok." Not taken for his word Pearl still stays away hands nervously fooling around with one another against her chest.
"Yes, well," her smile concerned, "we should be getting back to the temple anyway." She does take a half a step closer, enough to place a hand on his shoulder: to make that vibrant happiness bloom in his young face.
She lets him take her hand, although her fingers squirm uncomfortably now that she has the fear that Steven might yak all over her. Yes, a prior incident did jump to her mind at the moment their skin made contact, eliciting the dread born from such an event. As Amethyst's eye met hers Pearl could only imagine the words readying on those eager plump lips.
"Stop being all squeamish, P. Steven was just a baby in diapers when he puked on ya. Why u' still got to think about that? It was barely a dimes worth of spit-up, and it was just the milk he drank that got on you."
More of a gooey white substance, not quite a liquid, and definitely not a solid, as Pearl recalls the dreadful feeling of it sliding down her front, swallowing the star on her chest as if it were the Milky Way. These words turned challenging and Pearl wouldn't let herself be beat. I'll make her eat them like one of her burritos!
Amethyst snorts, breaking her thoughts like a twig, "What's so funny?" Pearl asks, tugging Steven towards her. The boy smacks into a hard thigh. Then an embarrassed glint forms on his cheeks when Pearl surprises him next by picking him up; slotting his legs over her hips as she loosely hooks her arms under his armpits.
Though the hold was loose, Steven wouldn't have minded if Pearl held him a little tighter, as she usually did when he had done something to cause her worry. With the kind of embrace that made his joints pop. The kind of-need, Steven was selfish for. Warmth radiated outward from that skinny chest. Those arms, like heated coils, were wonderful wherever they touched. Steven allowed himself this small selfish behavior. Leaning forward till his head fit into the crook of Pearls neck. Ear pressed to the skin, he heard not the beating of a heart. There was this weird sort of odd vibration radiating into his head. As if thousands of tiny energetic sparklers were going off. It was as close to a heart beat as Steven figures he was going to get. Making it hard not to fall into temptation and bask in the darkness behind his eyelids, so that he might section off this weird sensation caused by their contact.
"Don't fall asleep on me now." The joke was as wispy as the wind ruffling the hair on each of their heads.
Steven snapped himself back to conscious thought. Hands, which had begun to dangle, reach for and take hold of the fabric of her tunic.
"Anyway I can get in on this?" Amethyst, with hands behind the back of her head, struts to Pearls side with not so much a frown as it was jealousy pulling down her lip.
The hand before her was smaller than her own. Lacked the warmth that a full gems flesh did, however, Stevens touch had its own special kind of feeling. Familiar, strong, and loving, making it hard to hold back that wanting-to become one-to be Smokey Quartz again.
A chipped fingernail ghosted. The touch sent shivers through Stevens's body.
Steven switched shoulders so that he might see why Amethyst had squeezed his hand a little too hard to get his attention.
"Shall we?" She asks the both of them; goofy smile and all.
Each nodded before they set off for home. Pearl ran her hand between Stevens's shoulders unconsciously. While Amethyst stroked his hand with hers. Their actions so tender, so-caring, and loving, and so many other sickly sweet sort of emotions that Amethyst would never let slip from her mouth. She had a reputation to uphold. Yet, they were alone. Beach Cities residents were likely sitting down to dinner at the moment, as they would soon be too. She let her face relax, let that confident, wild smirk fall onto the sand, left along the way with their footprints, and allowed that genuine feeling of happiness (that these two always managed to draw out of her) take its place.
The End