The bell above the door rang loudly with the coming and going of the coffee shop inhabitance. The girl stopped for a moment to brush her rain dampened hair back and to wipe of her glasses with a black hoodie sleeve. Lapis turned to glance at the new customer but found herself staring instead. It wasn't until Pearl tapped her on the shoulder, she realised that she had spaced out.

She watched her walk over to the rest area and sit. She hadn't seen the girl around the shop before. 'Was she a newbie from the college?' She wondered in silence. Lapis glanced away when the girl turned to the counter and retreated to the back. 'Who in the world was she? Has she been here before?'

Lapis stood leaned against the wall with her back touching it's chilly surface. She was about to go back out when her watch beeped loudly, startling her. She twisted her wrist to gaze at its digital face with strong loathing. Time was her enemy. It kept her prisoner and dictated every single move she made.

"Pearl," Lapis called out to the front, never breaking her gaze from her wrist. "My shift just ended, so i'll be heading home. Are you okay by yourself until Sapphire gets here?" She asked popping her head out of the doorway. Pearl looked at her with a sad expression before looking down and sighing, refusing to look her in the eyes.

"Yeah, sure Lapis i'll be fine. You go ahead and go home." Pearl said in a hushed tone.

Lapis managed a weak smile. "Ok then." Lapis said grabbing her jacket. "Good night, Pearl." Lapis said as she took off her apron and hung it on the the rack. She pulled her jacket on as she waved good bye and pushed the door open to the freezing winter air.

"Good night, Lapis. Be safe." Pearl said as she waved.

Lapis nodded as she stepped out of the doorway and onto the quiet street. The sun had set about half an hour before and the evening moon cast a silver glow onto the paved road. Voices of the night goers filled the air and blurred into one solid noise.

Lapis watched the sky as she walked home in the dark. Her hands stung from the cold and her lungs and nose burned from breathing the icy air. The rain that had dominated the sky earlier had frozen to the ground, creating slippery mirror like patches on the dark road.

Before long Lapis had found herself standing in front of the door to her apartment. Her stomach knotted painfully and her chest felt as if someone had poured ice water down her throat to drain into her lungs. She inhaled deeply and held her breath for as long as she could manage.

Slowly she exhaled and pulled her house keys from her pocket. She turned the key and unlocked the deadbolt and the door in a slow reluctant manner. When Lapis opened the door she was hit with an almost uncomfortable wave of heat.

The interior was dimly lit by the soft glow of a few loosely strung up fairy lights and lamps around the apartment. The windows were fogged from the freezing air outside. A quick glance around the room yielded it to be deserted, to her unhinging relief.

She stepped inside and set her keys on the table beneath the mirror and walked into the living room and plopped down on the couch. Lapis sighed and layed her head on the back of the couch. She blinked slowly twice before eventually letting her eyelids droop. She was exhausted and every muscle in her body was strung so tight she feared if she were any tencer they would snap. She slowly relaxed enough for the cramps in her stomach to be soothed slightly.

Lapis sat up and stared blankly at the floor, to consumed in her thoughts to do anymore than that. Eventually the sound of heavy footsteps thumped outside of the door. She sucked in a sharp breath as thoughts raced through her mind for the thousandth time. Should she run and hide in her room with the door locked? Should she stay still and sit on the couch like she hadn't heard a thing? Her fear left paralyzed, sitting there staring at her clenched fists, tears welling in her eyes but she dared not cry.

The doorknob turned and jasper stepped into the apartment, cold air rushing in as she did. She hung her jacket on the rack by the door and stretched, grunting while she did. The house fell into an absolute silence as jasper stop moving around. Lapis slowly release the breath she had been holding for dear life, and quickly scrubbed away a tear that had barely streamed down her cheek. She was careful not to swipe to aggressively near her bruise for fear of making it worse. Jasper walked into the living room without saying a word.

Lapis looked up and met jaspers amber gaze before looking away quickly. They sat in silence for a few more seconds before jasper crossed the room and dropped to her knees in front of lapis to wrap her arms around her. Lapis stiffened before letting her body relax into the embrace, looping her thin arms around jasper's large torso. "Lapis…" jasper said quietly, her gruff voice falling out into a squeak. "I'm so sorry, i'm so sorry…" jasper kept repeating herself over and over again. Her originally projectile voice was diminished to a soft whisper that rang with endless regret.

"It's okay jasper, i forgive you…" lapis said quietly, her voice thick from the tears she dared not cry. Jasper pulled away to run her gaze over lapis's battered face before pressing soft kisses around her mouth and cheeks. When the storm of kisses finally slowed lapis looked away from jasper's eyes. "You should probably take a shower…" lapis croaked in a half failing voice. "I know you've probably been waiting for one all day." she joked with a weak chuckle.

Jasper smiled before leaning forward to ghost one final kiss over lapis's most prominent bruise located on her cheek bone, just under her eye. Lapis flinched when jaspers lip ring pressed into the bruised but held still for the entirety of the peck. Jasper large hand cupped lapis's face as she looked down at her. She finally kissed lapis softly before pulling away and stepping back.

"I'm going to go take a shower but after that, how about we order take out? That way neither of us have to cook." jasper said running her hand through her wild white hair. Lapis smiled and gave a weak nod. "Yeah that sounds great." she said as she turned to walk towards her bedroom. "I'm just gonna be in my room if you need anything, ok?" she said as she faced the door.

"Okay, i'll be out in like, fifteen minutes." jasper said with a grunt before walking to the linen closet to grab a large grey towel and a smaller white one. Lapis stood there a little longer until she heard the bathroom door click shut behind her. With one hand she pushed open her door while inhaling deeply.

The inside of the room was sparsely decorated, save a few posters, pictures, and random keepsakes. Her bed was made with a deep blue comforter that she had owned since her late years in high school. She had a small vanity mirror and makeup desk with a soft chair tucked safely underneath. A large Marina and the Diamonds from the electra heart album poster hung crookedly to the left of the mirror. Her phone sat on her makeup desk, it's screen blank. She picked it up and turned it on, unlocking the screen in a swift motion as she did.

No notifications- no messages. Like usual. She stared at her background of her and jasper smiling widely at LIGHTS! ,The local gay bar in town, until the screen returned to it's normal black pictureless shade. She walked over to her bed and flopped down letting her phone settle on the bed as she did. The heater ran quietly as she sat in the darkened room as she turned on her side and curled up in a ball weeping as she did. She hadn't felt this broken in almost two months. This wasn't healthy. She knew that, yet she stayed because she needed jasper, and jasper needed her. She was irrevocably in love with her, no matter how bad jasper hurt her.

Outside of the room she heard the faint click of the bathroom door opening. Lapis rushed to gather herself before she went outside. She leaned over, using a single hand placed firmly against her desk to prop herself up as she prodded her bruise gently with the other. She cleaned her face with one of the tissues from the box beside her before rubbing her face carefully with both hands. After a few seconds, looking in the mirror nauseated her till she was forced to look away unless she risked being sick. Lapis turned to walk towards the door before the mostly uninterrupted silence was disturbed by an echoing growling sound from her stomach.

Her face paled unhealthily as a sickening thought rang through her mind. In the chaos of trying to keep her thoughts blank she had worked straight through her lunch break, and in her rush to get away from the apartment she had skipped breakfast as well. She didn't even want to think about last night although she recalled waiting till jasper came home to eat so they could have dinner together, but when jasper came home… she shuddered as she grabbed the doorknob. It had been almost two full days since she had eaten anything.

She pulled open the door and stepped out into the living room, her hand pulled across her stomach to clutch her freckled wrist. "I'll call them if you want…" lapis said in a rush. Jasper looked away from the television while it played a rerun of some female prison show with ruby rose in it to acknowledge her. "Sure thing lapis, sounds cool." jasper said with a nod. Lapis returned the nod with weak smile before walking over to the kitchenette to pull the phone of the wall and dial Rileys, the local pizza place. The phone rang once before someone picked up on the other end of the line. "Rileys pizza- you call we deliver, now with sit in dining. What can i get for you?" the staticy voice said. Lapis inhaled sharply before glancing at jasper and then back towards the wall before she exhaled.

"One large pizza, half supreme, half pepperoni." she said, holding the phone in both hands. "Alrighty then, would you like to add a two liter of your choice of soda to your order?" the voice replied. "Um, no thanks." lapis said. "Ok then, i have one large two topping pizza, half supreme half pepperoni no drink is that correct?" lapis replayed the order quickly in her mind before answering. "Yes that's all, thanks" she said in a soft voice. "Alright that'll be $7.99. Your order will arrive in a little under half an hour."

"Thanks." lapis said as the line went dead. She hung the phone back on the wall and closed her eyes before withdrawing her hand. She walked over to the couch where jasper was sitting and sat down beside her. Jasper's hair was wrapped in a small white towel although a few pieces escaped the twist and hung damply in her face. The top of her grey shirt was dampened into a darker shade and had a small breast pocket on her left side. Her black sweat pants hung loosely on her hips as she leaned against the arm of the couch.

Jasper glanced to lapis before motioning with her head for her to lean against her. Lapis did as she was silently instructed, melting into jasper's warm side as she did. She was always this warm, she thought to herself. It was so comforting, so reassuring. Lapis closed her eyes before stifling a yawn. "The pizza will be here soon." she said as jasper laid her arm over lapis's dainty shoulders.

"Good." jasper said with a smile.

Just as lapis was just about to drift off a familiar muffled tune played from lapis's room. She sighed before standing up and stretching. "Sorry it's my phone." lapis said, her face flushing slightly in embarrassment. Hadn't she put it on silent? She thought fiercely to herself as she padded off to her room.

She pushed open the door and the song played a tiny bit louder as the phone vibrated on her blankets. She picked it up with a sigh and swiped it over, seeing a picture of pearl glow across the screen. Lapis swiped the answer button and stuck the speaker to her ear. "Hello." lapis said in a tired voice. "Lapis!" pearl said excitedly. "I didn't think you'd answer!". Lapis smiled as she clutched the phone a little tighter. "Well i did so i proved your intuition wrong P." she replied quietly.

Pearl laughed on the other end of the line. "So what were your plans for tomorrow night?" Pearl said, her voice sounding like a child who new a very good secret. Lapis thought to herself for a moment or so before answering.

"I was just going to go home after work. Why?" lapis asked. "Garnet and i were thinking, and we thought that you would might like to go out tomorrow night to LIGHTS! With us!" Pearl said in a bubbly voice. Lapis considered it for a moment before breaking into a smile, pulling open her split lip in the process.

She walked quickly over to her desk to get a tissue to press against her now throbbing lip, still smiling. "Absolutely!" lapis said in an excited voice. "I'll ask jasper about it, and i'll let you know the results tomorrow, ok?" lapis said, beaming.

Pearl's voice lost some of it's excitement but didn't dull too much. "Sounds great! Goodnight lapis!" pearl said before cutting the line. Lapis slowly pulled the phone away from her ear, her eyes glowing with excitement for the future.