"You either say what you feel and fuck it up or say nothing and let it fuck you up instead."
The last box was sitting in their new living room. Amethyst lay in the floor with her head in Pearl's lap, their friends sitting in various places, some on the floor, some perched on boxes.
They didn't have a couch yet.
"What time do you have to take the truck back?" Lapis asked from her reclined position on the coffee table.
"By ten tomorrow morning," Pearl answered.
"Do you still need me to follow you to the U-Haul place?" Peridot piped in.
"Yeah, if you don't mind," Pearl said. "Amethyst would do it, but, you know…"
"I don't. Why can't Amethyst do it?" Lapis asked. Amethyst groaned, covering her face with her hands.
"I can't drive," she mumbled through her fingers. Lapis perked up, sitting up and leaning closer to Amethyst.
"What was that?" she asked excitedly.
"I can't drive!" Amethyst said loudly, rolling over to bury her face in Pearl's lap. Pearl pet her head sympathetically. Lapis burst into a fit of laughter as she rolled off of the coffee table.
"You can't fuckin' drive? Oh my God!"
"What's everybody laughing about?" Everyone turned their heads to see Rose come through the door. She gracefully sat down next to Pearl and kissed her on the temple. "Everything is settled, babe."
Amethyst, who had flipped back over in just enough time to see Pearl blush, groaned.
"Amethyst can't drive!" Lapis all but yelled. Rose laughed and touched Amethyst's face.
"It's not that big of a deal, Amethyst," she said in her sing songy voice. Amethyst couldn't help but to feel a little better, and she hated it.
Rose was one of those people. Everyone loved her and she loved everyone. But she often was caught up in her own world, which caused her to hurt people inadvertently. Amethyst had seen her do it to Pearl many, many times.
"What's wrong, P?" Amethyst had asked her several months ago. "I thought you were going out with Rose tonight." Pearl shrugged and went back to reading her book through tear stained eyes.
"Something came up and she cancelled."
"What kind of something? Is she sick?" A sigh.
"No. A friend managed to get tickets to some rock concert but they only had two. And it's only in town for one night, and I don't really like loud music and crowds, so I really don't blame her."
"Isn't tonight your anniversary?"
"... Yeah…"
Amethyst liked Rose a lot. She had a few issues with her, though. None of them were the fact she was dating Pearl, though.
Not at all.
"I'm pretty sure we were promised pizza," Peridot said suddenly. "Wasn't that the deal? We move your shit across town, you buy us pizza?" Pearl looked at her in mock disapproval.
"Oh, so you did it for pizza, not because you love your sister or anything."
"Yeah, pizza," Peridot said, and Lapis nodded in agreement.
"Pizza."
"You guys suck," Amethyst said as she sat up and pulled her hair into a messy ponytail. "Let's go. Someone drive, I'll buy."
"This pizza is so good," Peridot said. Lapis and Amethyst laughed.
"You say that about all pizza, Peri," Lapis said, lying down across her girlfriend's lap.
"That's because all pizza is so good," Peridot quipped and brought both of her elbows to rest on Lapis' stomach.
"Even pineapple?" Lapis asked, eyebrow raised.
"Even pineapple," Peridot agreed. Lapis scrunched her face up in disgust. Peridot hit her in the face with the slice of pizza.
"Gross, Peri!"
"Can you guys stop being so fucking cute with each other and help me put these bookshelves together?" Amethyst asked. Lapis groaned and rolled off of Peridot's lap.
"I guess," she said, rolling over to where Amethyst was sitting, trying desperately to figure out how the pieces fit together. "Where are the instructions?"
"Pearl bought these online for real cheap. The instructions they came with were in Chinese. Pearl said she could put them together." Amethyst uselessly hit the piece she was holding with the end of her screw driver.
"Where is Pearl?" Lapis asked. At some point, Rose and Pearl had disappeared.
"They went for a walk or something," Peridot said, picking up the instructions and looking at them intently. "You have to flip that piece in your hand over and then fit the pegs into the other piece."
"Since when do you read Chinese?" Lapis asked in disbelief. Peridot straighten her glasses.
"Since my father was born in Singapore," she flipped the instructions around "and the English instructions were on the folded in side."
They tried to follow the instructions, but the bookshelves resisted being built. After an hour, one of the three bookshelves were assembled, and they had all moved on the other tasks, like unpacking the kitchen.
After glancing at her phone and realizing how long Pearl and Rose had been gone, Amethyst broke into Peridot and Lapis' chatter.
"Peridot, can I ask you a question?" Amethyst asked. Peridot nodded, putting a few more pots into the cabinets. Amethyst leaned against the counter and took a deep breath. "Pearl and Rose have been dating for a while."
"That's not a question."
"Yeah, I know, here's the question: what do you think about Rose?"
"I think that she is nice. She makes Pearl happy. Sometimes she seems a little… maybe self-involved or insensitive, but I like her enough. It doesn't really concern me, though," Peridot rambled as she put more things into the cabinets. "Why do you ask?"
"I don't know her that well. Pearl's dated Rose since we met, but I didn't even meet her until we started looking for apartments. I guess what I really wanted to know is… does she always treat Pearl like on their anniversary?" Amethyst let the question drop before she could think to stop it.
Lapis sighed.
"Yeah, she kinda does. It's like she doesn't understand that relationships have to be two way. You can't just take and not give."
Amethyst nodded silently and finished putting her box away. The regular chatter started back up and soon Amethyst suggested they move back into the living room to try the bookshelves again.
"Why did the lizard cross the road?" Peridot asked, barely able to contain her giggling. Lapis groaned.
Amethyst took the bait.
"Why?"
"It was taped to the chicken's back!" Peridot doubled over in laughter. Amethyst chuckled at the sight of her.
"She tells it five times a week," Lapis deadpanned.
"We should probably head home soon, Ame," Peridot said, checking her watch as she wiped tears from her eyes. Amethyst frowned. "I've got work in the morning and Lazuli has dance class."
The three friends walked to the door and said their goodbyes.
"Sorry, Amethyst," Lapis said, putting on her jacket.
"It's okay, Lap. I know you got work, unlike me," she said jokingly. Lapis shook her head.
"I mean about Pearl and Rose," Lapis clarified. Amethyst frowned.
"What're you talkin' about?"
"I've seen how you look at her Ame. Tell her. You either say what you feel and fuck it up or say nothing and let it fuck you up instead."
"... Have a nice night, Lapis," Amethyst said, and quietly added, "I'll try."
