"Okay, we have one last shot at this." Connie spoke with determination in her voice and fire in her eyes. "Tonight, Pearl and Amethyst's passions are going to be realized!"
"Yeah!" Steven said, his enthusiasm nearly matching that of his friend. "But we need something good, some sort of strategy. . ."
Connie nodded. "Think, Steven. When have those two been the closest?"
He thought for a moment. "Well, there was this one time I got eaten by a giant bird. . ."
Connie gasped. "Steven, that's it! All we need to do is put you in mortal danger!"
"Yeah!" Steven said. "Wait, what?"
Pearl hummed to herself lightly as she washed the dishes from Steven's dinner. For whatever reason, she always felt the most at ease when working on something with her hands. It relaxed her.
The sound of the refrigerator door to her right brought a thought to her head. "So, Amethyst. . ." She began without even glancing up. Her tone was even, but curious. "What do you think is going on?"
"Uh, you're gonna have to be more specific than that, P." came the response. Amethyst, sandwich in hand, slammed the fridge door shut with more force than was necessary; she had a Pearl to irritate, after all.
If it bothered her, Pearl didn't show it. "With Connie and Steven." She gently laid down the plate and turned to face the other gem. "One odd dinner is one thing, but last night makes it something else."
Amethyst shrugged. "I dunno, I don't really think about things like this too hard. So what if they're being a little weird? I'm having fun!"
Boom. The slam of the front door made Pearl cringe. When she turned to face it, however, she did not find Steven, as she expected, but Connie, breathing heavily.
"Connie?" Pearl asked. "What's going on?"
"It's Steven!" the girl replied between breaths. "He's under attack by some sort of giant sea monster, he needs your help!"
Connie and two gems wasted no time in racing to find Steven. A grossly enlarged black arm, partially submerged in the ocean water, held the screaming boy high in the sky; another arm flailed wildly about, sending seawater in all directions.
Amethyst yanked her whip out of her gem. "Oh no you don't!" She shouted at the creature before charging towards it. "Come on, Pearl! Let's get this thing!"
Pearl drew her spear, ready to oblige, but something stopped her. Something about the creature felt off. The colossal fists invoked a certain memory in her.
Wait.
"Wait, stop." Pearl said, putting her palm to her forehead. "Stop!" She repeated, louder this time.
At the sound of her shout, everything stopped moving; the arms, Steven, and Amethyst all froze in their tracks, with the latter two looking back to her.
"Amethyst, this exact same thing happened before!" She shook her head in frustration. "After the gem shards, remember?"
The scene remained in silence for a moment before the monstrous arms receded, revealing a certain gem surfacing from the water.
"Garnet!?" Amethyst exclaimed.
"You're a part of this?" Pearl asked her, more confused than anything else.
The gem shrugged in response. "I really had nothing better to do." With that, she set Steven back down on the sand and retreated to the house.
Pearl took a deep breath. "Okay, okay. Steven, Connie, what on earth is going on?"
The two looked at each other.
Steven sighed. "Well, I saw the other day how you two were arguing with one another, and it reminded Connie and me of a TV show we like, and. . ."
"-and we sort of became convinced that you had a crush on each other," Connie continued, "and we just wanted to help you along."
Pearl stared at the kids for a second or two before she burst out in laughter. Amethyst joined in with a chuckle.
"Ahaha, oh my goodness! Us? Together?" Pearl said as she tried to regain some sense of composure. Noting the kids' downcast faces, she went on, "Look, I'm glad you two wanted to help us, but Amethyst and I would make a horrible couple! Right, Amethyst?"
"Oh!" She responded. "Uh, yeah. It would, like, never work out."
Still attempting to stifle her giggles, Pearl continued, "I mean, Amethyst and I are entirely incompatible! Could you imagine the kind of conflict that would arise from our personalities? She's just too brash, crude, and disorganized. It would never work, not in a million years!"
Steven sighed. "I guess we were wrong, Connie."
"Yeah," she replied, "but at least we gave it a shot."
Pearl giggled one final time at the absurdity of the situation and watched the two walk off back to the house.
". . .So you really mean all that?"
The voice surprised Pearl. She looked down to Amethyst at her side; the gem was not making eye contact, but rather gazing at the sun descending under the horizon, much like the previous night, her resigned voice and defeated slouch a sharp contrast to her usual demeanor.
"What do you mean?" Pearl ventured.
"About me. About us."
Pearl found herself at a loss for words. "Well, I, uh-"
"Like how you couldn't even think of dating me without laughing, like it's some sort of joke." She turned away and sniffed. "Nevermind, forget it."
Pearl felt her heart sink at the sight. "Amethyst," she knelt down, "I had no idea, I. . . I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hurt your feelings."
"No, I get it." Amethyst said, her voice choked. "You're too good for me."
"No, no," she looked Amethyst in the face, cringing at the sadness in her friend's eyes. "It's just not something I've ever thought about before, it seemed just so unusual to me, I-" She paused. "I think you're wonderful, actually."
Amethyst didn't reply. Though there were tears in her eyes, she managed a soft smile.
"Look," Pearl wiped a tear away from Amethyst's eye with a finger. "How about we start over? Go back to that restaurant with all the bread sticks? Or. . ." She stopped and looked out at the crimson hues stretching over the ocean, leaving spots of light dancing on the waves. "Or we could stay here and watch the sunset. Together." She took hold of Amethyst's hand.
". . . Yeah. I think I'd like that."
