"Pearl! Sheena's calling again!" Steven yelled at the gem in the kitchen as she walked upstairs to grab the phone from the boy. Amethyst had insisted that Pearl wait a few days before calling the mysterious girl, but after that, they talked on the phone nearly every day. Pearl enjoyed talking to Sheena, telling her about her days, about sword training with Steven and Connie, silly things that Amethyst did, she even talked about certain things from the past, though she still tried to be careful. Pearl was still so afraid she'd say that one thing, whatever it was, that was just too strange for this human, not to mention the huge elephant in the room. She had never been interested in getting a human's approval before; to say it was nerve-wracking would be an understatement.

Pearl stared at the phone for a second. Sheena's number had been added to the phone's contacts as "Pearl's Hot Ladyfriend" by a certain purple gem, causing her to roll her eyes. "Yes, yes, hello?"

"Hey, cutie, what are you up to?" It was a little embarrassing, the way that just the sound of Sheena's voice could make her blush this much.

"I'm doing well, thanks, I guess you could say I'm just 'hanging out,' at home, what about yourself?"

"I guess you could say I'm just 'hanging out' too," Sheena responded, mimicking the gem's tone. Gotta put a few finishing touches on my bike, then she'll be perfect. For real this time," the human girl chuckled. "The fix you suggested worked though, thanks." Pearl smiled at this, remembering how much fun she'd had yesterday talking to the girl about vehicles and all their different parts and functions, comparing stories and tips; they must've chatted for hours, much to Steven's annoyance. With that said though, Pearl's favorite conversations were the ones where she got to learn more about Sheena and her life. She felt like she could listen for hours to the girl's stories about her coworkers, growing up in Empire City, different (wildly irresponsible, in Pearl's opinion) things she'd done with her friends. It just felt so amazing to have someone new to talk to, even someone so different.

"So, Pearl, I was thinking, since my bike is almost done, I think I'm about ready to see your pretty face again. If you'd like, of course." The tall gem chuckled a little; was it just her or did the human girl sound a little flustered?

"Yes, of course," Pearl replied without hesitation, "What would you like to do?"

"Well, I was thinking, with Halloween coming up and all, maybe we should see a scary movie? If you're not too afraid."

"Oh, I think I'll be okay," the gem scoffed; she had watched many a film with Steven, but would hardly describe any of them as "scary."

"Okay, then, tough girl. You free tomorrow night?" Sheena couldn't help but laugh a little at Pearl's words; the more time she spent with the thin woman, the more she felt that the girl was a force to be reckoned with.

"You know I am," The gem replied smoothly. She was still trying to wrap her head around this whole "flirting" thing, as Amethyst had called it, but she thought she was doing alright.

"Okay, then, I'll pick you up around 5? Maybe we can grab some dinner on the way?"

"Um, how about later? Like after dinner?"

"Ohhh okay, not ready for a romantic dinner date? I'll pick you up at 8:30, looks like the movie starts at 9. I'll try to tone down my charm. Tell Steven not to wait up for you," the girl joked.

"Okay, I shall do just that!" Steven had answered the phone a few times when the girl called, but luckily hadn't said anything Pearl would deem "embarrassing". Sheena seemed to understand that the boy was important to her, and luckily didn't press too much, even if Pearl had no idea how to respond to the girl's "tone down the charm" comment.

"Kay, I gotta go, Pearl, see you tomorrow, behave yourself."

"Yes, okay! Can't wait!" The gem turned toward Steven as she handed him the phone back. "Oh, and don't wait up." The boy, while a bit confused, couldn't help being excited for the gem.

"Alright, you have fun," he giggled. "Oh, and Pearl? I think you need your own phone. I bet my dad would buy you one! He's rich now, remember?"

"Really? If you think so, that would be nice. For… safety!"

Steven laughed, "Yeah, sure."

"Oh, and Steven? Which movie would you consider 'scary'?"


Later that afternoon found Greg and Pearl entering the boardwalk's only cell phone store as Steven and Connie made sandcastles nearby. He had agreed that with Steven living with them and going on missions and such, it would be safer if the gems had a way to communicate with him directly, and Pearl appreciated that he didn't ask too many questions. The 20-something guy working at the store quickly set Pearl up with a new smartphone and added her to Greg and Steven's family plan, even though she was a bit baffled as to how the little device worked. The gem thanked the man, turned around—and almost ran into a familiar, pink silhouette.

"Pearl! Fancy seeing you here!" Sheena said with genuine excitement.

"Sheena! Yes! I have just purchased my very own cellular phone!" Pearl showed the girl the device in her hand.

"Very nice, very nice. So now I don't have to call Steven's phone in order to reach you? I mean, he seems like a good kid and all, but it was getting a little awkward." The human girl smiled.

"Ah, yes, this one is all mine!" At this point, Greg had noticed the rather unexpected occurrence—first, he didn't often run into strangers in Beach City; he'd been around long enough that he pretty much knew everyone. Second, he'd never seen Pearl really take interest in talking to humans, especially ones she didn't know that well. Third, this stranger had talked to his son—though that boy had always been a little too friendly for his own good.

"Pearl?" He tapped the gem's shoulder lightly, "Sorry to interrupt, but who is this?"

"Oh, yes," as Pearl turned to face him, he noticed the blue rising to the gem's cheeks. "Greg, this is my new, um, friend, Sheena. We met at the Mike Kroll show about a week ago. And Sheena, this is Mr. Greg Universe, he's, um, Steven's father." Pearl had not anticipated this much awkwardness in her day, but she did always manage to surprise herself.

"Mr. Universe…" Sheena trailed off, staring at Greg somewhat distantly, as if she knew him but couldn't remember where from.

"Yes, it's very nice to meet you, Sheena," the man replied, extending a hand to the pink-haired girl. Sheena quickly shook it and walked away with a muttered excuse. As soon as she was out of earshot, Greg saw the gem, blushing bright and frozen in place, and couldn't help but ask, "So that's why you wanted a phone, isn't it, Pearl?


The next evening at promptly 8:30 pm, Pearl was waiting anxiously on the temple's porch, fully decked out in her "bad Pearl outfit," as Amethyst called it. The others were chattering and giving the ivory-skinned gem last minute date advice, even though Pearl had made them promise not to watch this time. She waited, and waited, for what seemed like hours. "She's not coming. I've been waiting all night, and she didn't even show up. I guess I'm not as cool as I thought…" Pearl sighed hopelessly, talking to nobody in particular.

"Chill out, P, you've literally been waiting for like, 5 minutes," Amethyst replied from inside. "She'll be here, those cool girls are always a few minutes late."

"Promise?"
"Promise." The purple gem scooped Pearl into a quick hug. "And if she breaks your heart, I am going full Purple Puma on her ass." The pale gem chuckled weakly at the thought.

"She's here! She's here!" Pearl shouted as she rushed down the steps at the sight of a motorcycle coming up the hill.

"Sheena! You made it!" The tall gem almost yelled, "Oh, I'm so happy to see you! I hope yesterday at the store wasn't too awkward, I—" Pearl's words were interrupted when the human girl planted a soft kiss right on her gem, sending a shiver up and down her form.

"Don't worry about it, silly, now get on," the human shoved a helmet onto the gem's head. The Pearl did as she was told, and it was a quick ride to the movie theatre. Sheena bought a big bucket of popcorn and commented, "I expect you to share this with me," but Pearl tried not to think about that and hoped she could avoid it. Both sunk down into their seats with time to spare, but Sheena couldn't take wondering any longer.

"So, um, that man you were with yesterday, Mr. Universe, is he, um…" Pearl waited patiently for her date to finish, "Is he a musician?"

That was not what Pearl expected the girl to ask, so she hesitated for a moment. "Yes, actually, or well, he used to be, but now he owns a carwash here in town. I think he still plays music sometimes though." The pale gem was more than ready to change the subject.

"Oh, I was just wondering, I think I've heard some of his stuff. 'Let Me Drive My Van Into Your Heart'? 'I'm Just a Comet'?" The girl was clearly trying to look cool and indifferent, but her excitement was obvious.

"Yes, I think so," Come on, let's talk about something else, please.

"Wow! He's really good! I can't believe you know him!" Sheena continued rambling. If this turns into Rose all over again, I swear to God or stars or the Diamonds or WHATEVER…

"Wait, so how do you know him again?" The attention suddenly snapped back to Pearl.

"Oh, well, I had this, um, friend, Rose. I'd known her for many, many years, and she fell in love with Greg and they had Steven. But Rose is…no longer with us, so the others and I stepped in to help raise Steven along with Greg." Pearl tried to disguise the hurt of that statement, of that story, but she knew she was doing a poor job.

"Oh, I'm so sorry," the pink-haired girl muttered shyly.

"It's okay," Pearl replied, trying desperately to think of something else to talk about. "So, um, what's this movie we're seeing?

"Well, we're seeing A Nightmare on Elm Street. They're showing the original one from the 80's, tonight only, how cool is that?! And these kids, they keep seeing a scary guy in their dreams, and then they get murdered! And they're trying to figure out why this is happening and how to stop it but they don't have much time and… Well, you'll have to watch it."

"Oh. Sounds…exciting." And Pearl suddenly realized, she'd never seen a film like this before, and silently vowed to never let Steven anywhere near it. As the room went dark and the screen lit up, Pearl grew steadily more apprehensive. With every scream and scare, the thin gem would jump and gasp as Sheena tried to hide her amusement. The pink haired girl grabbed the gem's hand and stroked it with her thumb.

"You okay?" She whispered.

"Yes, yes, so he just gets into their minds while they're sleeping?" Pearl muttered, terrified.

"Exactly, isn't that wild? Good thing people can't actually do that," Sheena responded. She had seen enough horror movies to be relatively unfazed, but clearly Pearl wasn't like her in that regard. She watched the gem's huge blue eyes, a mix of confusion and terror and maybe even a little bit of excitement, though that could have been wishful thinking.

Pearl closed her eyes hard as she felt her date squeeze her hand. It was nice. She felt herself calming down a little, even though she could still hear the teenage human being violently murdered onscreen. She snuck a look at her date when she was sure Sheena wasn't looking; the girl seemed intrigued, every scare bringing a fresh wave of adrenaline coursing through her. Maybe that's why she wanted Pearl to be there, to share in the excitement. The gem didn't even know it was possible to feel excited and terrified at the same time, not from something like human entertainment. Of course, she'd felt this way when she was rebelling against Homeworld, but that was a far different time and a far different situation. But Pearl liked how this girl and this movie made her feel. Her metaphorical heart pounding and hands shaking, horrified of what was coming next but also filled with anticipation, unable to tear her eyes off the screen, while squeezing Sheena's hand until it turned white (more than once, Pearl had to remind herself to loosen her grip so as to not actually hurt the girl).

At long last, the movie finished and the house lights turned back on. Sheena grabbed her hand away from the gem's death grip, muttering, "Yeesh, you are a lot stronger than you look," as she tried to get the blood circulating normally again.

"Steven is never allowed to see that film, ever!" Pearl hissed.

Sheena just chuckled, "Well you won't always be able to control what he watches, he won't be little forever!" She'd never admit it, but the human girl actually kind of enjoyed her date's passion about this.

"You don't know that, maybe he will be! Even if he lives to be 10,000 years old, he will always be my baby boy, and as such he must listen to me!"

Sheena did her best to contain her laughter, but could only choke out a weak, "Whatever you say, Pearl." After she composed herself slightly more, the pink haired girl continued, "So I take it you're not a horror fan?"

Pearl was slightly taken aback by this question. "No? Maybe? I don't know, it was…exhilarating. It really drew me in."

"Yeah, that's the best part! You can' look away!"

"But there was still a tad too much blood and gore for my liking." Seriously. What the hell was up with that? When she literally sliced a gem in half, they would just vanish into a puff of smoke and leave their stone behind. It wasn't all messy and gooey the way humans are. Gross. So distasteful.

"You got me there," Sheena responded, flashing Pearl another smile that froze her momentarily. "You ready to go home, cutie?" The mysterious girl asked, "Unless you'd rather… continue the excitement at my place," she finished with a devious look.

"Um, no thank you, just take me home, please, I wouldn't want the others to worry," Pearl replied, the subtle suggestion going completely over her head.

The ride back to the temple wasn't long, but the gem's death grip on Sheena's waist made it slightly slower and more difficult. Maybe she's still in adrenaline mode, the human girl thought to herself. As Pearl dismounted the bike in front of the stairs, Sheena noticed something fall out of her date's jacket pocket, some sort of paper. She picked it up, "Hey, Pearl, you dropped something," she said before looking at it. The paper contained what appeared to be stickers, made with a cartoon likeness of none other than Pearl herself. "Hey," the girl snickered, "what on Earth are these?"

Pearl blushed a bit. "They're, um, Pearl points! I use them for the kids' sword training. To reward them for punctuality, perseverance, and positivity!"

Sheena let out a very uncharacteristic giggle, "That's cute." The girl quickly regained her smoothness, however, as she asked playfully, "So how does a girl like me get one?" Pearl's cheeks turned completely blue as she was speechless for a moment.

"Well, you can have one for…showing me something new! And being patient with me. Thank you." She pulled a sticker off the sheet and handed it to her date.
"Oh, and thank you!" Sheena said with excitement that Pearl chose to believe was genuine. The Pearl Point was promptly stuck onto the human girl's helmet, joining her worn, old lightning bolt sticker. "Now I have something to remember you by. I mean, as more than the girl who saved my planet."

"Why, yes, I guess you do!" Pearl responded, unsure of what to say to that joke.

"Now I need to give you something to remember me…"

"Oh, Sheena, how could I ever forget you and—" Pearl was promptly cut off by lips on hers. She wrapped her arms around the human girl's neck as she melted into the kiss. Sheena's tongue teased the gem's mouth open slightly, causing Pearl to gasp a little in surprise and also pleasure. The human girl pulled the gem's thin waist towards her own, deepening the kiss and the tongue action. Pearl tried to reciprocate the deft, confident movements of the girl's lips and tongue, hoping that she was a good kisser, however, in that moment, there wasn't much room to be anxious. After what felt like a very long time, Sheena pulled away, leaving stars in her partner's eyes.

"Goodnight, Pearl," were the last words that were uttered as the pink haired girl drove away, and Pearl watched Sheena disappear into the moonlight.


A/N: OMG thanks so much for reading and reviewing. I hope you like this chapter, I'm trying to update more often! Also, full disclosure, I have never seen a horror movie in my life.