A/N: so this chapter is kinda recapping the last chapter but through Lapis' POV plus some extra before and after happenings. the dialogue and actions are repeated, including a tiny bit Peri didn't properly catch due to her stupor of discovering Lapis would be working at Latte. I feel like I may be dragging this out, but as I've said, I haven't written in a while and I want to build up the story and backgrounds. I'm also hoping to give some chapters to other characters and develop their story lines as well. clearly, Pearl has to have her own chapter, at least one, which I'll turn into like three or four. cause I love Pearl. I have an idea for her story as it is.
regarding chapter titles, I don't plan them at all until I'm done writing the chapter and uploading it, then I reread and pick a theme or word that seems to fit the overall feeling of it. anyway! onwards.
ALSO. THE NEW CRYSTAL GEMS WAS JUST AS CUTE AS I EXPECTED IT TO BE! my biggest focus was that Peridot finally called Lapis a clod! Hahaha. okay. enjoy the chapter. =]
xxxxx
After following Pearl into the office, Lapis had been introduced to Garnet, a tall, dark muscular woman with, surprisingly, a third eye piercing adorning her forehead. Lapis wasn't used to seeing open expression in the workplace, and it excited her to know she would be allowed to recolor her hair and, when the time came, start decorating her skin with tattoos that would be acceptable for customers to see. Garnet had given her a warm smile and asked her a few questions; what led her to apply to their shop? What experience did she have? What did she like to do in her spare time? The small get-to-know-you-questions that put her at ease as she answered each one in a brief yet informative manner.
At that point, Garnet had patted her on the shoulder and welcomed her to the team before taking her application and writing directions on it. She gratefully shook Garnet's hand and waved goodbye to Pearl, who had been observing the interview from the doorway. The woman had looked down at her clipboard when Lapis acknowledged her and murmured a soft 'Goodbye, Miss Lazuli.' before disappearing to the further reaches of the store. Lapis stared after her before exiting through the banner, catching Amethyst's eye and throwing her one final thumbs up before the other girl ran over to high five her.
"Alright! Officially on board!" Amethyst cheered for her, leaning up against the counter and beaming at her. "It'll be nice to have a new worker bee around here! We honestly don't have many workers, not like we neeeeed them, but, eh, I'm bored with them all." She half-heartedly laughed then shifted her weight against the counter, looking at her hand absently. "Sooo, what's the next step?"
Remembering the girl's banter earlier, Lapis raised an eyebrow then looked down at her paper. "I get my uniform together and report at 10 a.m. tomorrow." Looking back up at Amethyst, she gave her a slight smile then nodded her head towards the door. "I'm gonna get going, I need to be sure I can put few outfits together."
Nodding, Amethyst looked back at Lapis and smiled again. "Congrats, and welcome, again. Catch ya tomorrow!"
Lapis slipped through the swinging door and made her way rather hurriedly towards the door before a thought struck her. She turned and looked at the stage as she walked back to the counter. "So, uh...is that like, um...an open mic type of deal, or...?" She eyed the chalkboard before looking back at Amethyst, who smiled and nodded.
"We start it at five o'clock every weeknight, seven on weekends, it goes until all the acts are done, whatever time that may be. You interested?"
Nodding a bit eagerly, Lapis fiddled with her sleeves a bit and looked back over. "...very. How do I sign up?"
"Just write your name under the day and time slot you want, we usually contact all participants if there's any conflict or important details to work out, sooo just go ahead and we'll talk to ya if we need." She watched Lapis strut over quickly and observe the board before picking up a blue piece of chalk ('go figure', Amethyst laughed to herself) and write her name, setting it down and smiling wide. "So, what do you do? Like, this thing's open for all sorts of stuff...poetry, singing, instrumentals, blah, blah, blah..."
Lapis walked towards the door once more and grinned over at the girl. "I play guitar. I mostly do covers, but I try to write my own stuff, too. I'll see what I can figure out by Wednesday. See ya!"
Giving her new coworker a final wave, she grabbed the door's handle and threw it open, only to hear a loud THUNK and a somewhat repressed sound of pain. Her hand flew to her mouth and she stopped in her tracks as her eyes took in a blonde girl that was as tall her shoulders, if even that, clutching her hand tightly and holding it to her body. She shoved her foot against the door hard, holding it open and just barely twitched her wrist when the girl looked up, anger written across her face, her mouth twisted into an ugly sneer, no doubt some venom laced words on the tip of her tongue, when their gazes met.
Lapis had always wondered what people felt when they described everything around them falling away, except for the one person they were focused on. She wasn't sure, but this seemed to be the very physical sensation she experienced when she first glimpsed into the girl's green orbs. It wasn't even the idea that everything but them fell away, actually; it was the thought that the two of them had been transported to another galaxy for a split second. Her breath was non-existent, her entire being felt nothing, she could only focus on the realization that, wow, that green put the entire planet's ecosystem to shame.
And as quickly as it happened, it ended, and she forced herself to move her hand and quickly splutter out a measley, "A-are you okay?", mentally slapping herself. Of course she wasn't okay, she had just been slammed in the hand by a mass amount of wood at a fairly high speed. She was taken by surprise and blinked as the blonde yelled at her, but not in anger or annoyance, just...yelled.
"YES, I'M FINE, THANK YOU."
She felt her face heat up slightly at the sound of the girl's voice, somewhat scratchy and low, though at the moment, decently shrill, before she looked at the girl's hand. "Are...you sure...? You look pained..."
Why is she not screaming at me for being such an idiot...? Ugh...oh god...this is so fucking embarrassing...why can't I just disappear...
She subconsciously covered her face with her free hand, groaning in despair. "I'm so sorry...I was so eager to rush home, I didn't think anyone would be coming in right as I was leaving..." she muttered pathetically, shame washing over her as she realized how inconsiderate she had been in her excitement.
"I...I'm fine...it'll pass, really...I just...need...coffee..."
The sound of the girl's voice, not screeching, was still scratchy and low, pleasant even, and Lapis moved her hand looking back at her, finding herself captivated once more by those lovely green eyes, wondering why she never appreciated the color as much as she did in this moment. Green deserved all the attention she could give it from now on, and even attention she would never be able to make up for.
What...stop, focus...you just hurt this girl! Stop swimming in her eyes...why aren't all bodies of water green...what's so special about blue...STOP.
She winced and repeated herself as she looked down at the girl's hand to break the spell her eyes had unknowingly cast on her. "...are you sure...? It's gonna bruise..." she mentally kicked herself this time for pointing out something so obvious, but she didn't know what else to say, and considering the situation, she couldn't just casually start a conversation about anything else without absolutely making sure that the girl was okay first.
Buy her coffee.
The thought hit her a bit too late, for as she prepared herself to make the offer, once more, the girl yelled suddenly.
"I'M FINE, THANK YOU."
Deflated, Lapis sighed and looked down before she stepped further outside, noticing that, to her disappointment, the girl moved away from her. She held the door open and looked up, realizing for the first time that the girl had not been alone. Flushing, she looked once more at the blonde and mumbled, "Alright...well...I'm sorry, again...enjoy your coffee..."
Green met blue once more right before the shorter girl vanished into the coffee shop, and Lapis felt the pang of regret wash over her for not offering to buy her coffee.
If you ever see her again...do it then.
Lapis sighed and looked over to the group that had accompanied the girl, blushing and feeling self conscious and silly for having not acknowledged them at all. She was just so enchanted by the green eyed blonde...enchanted...?
"I...I'm sorry...please, go in..." she all but whispered, her mind going off on a blurred tangent as the word echoed in her thoughts.
Echo...thoughts...enchanted...damn, what's her name...?
Her unorganized thought pattern was interrupted by the other girl in their group, her voice full of playful friendliness. "You don't have to hold the door, it's okay, girl!" she gestured inside with her head and laughed. "She'll be fiiine!" The two other boys nodded, and Lapis noticed they were all smiling widely, not even slightly upset that their friend had been injured. She wondered if this was from detachment, or if it was customary for this group to act in such a way with one another. Regardless, she shook the consideration out of her head and smiled sheepishly.
"No, it's the least I can do...besides, if I'm gonna be a good employee, I should start practicing some manners and hold the door, instead of hitting my customers with it, heh..." she forced a tiny laugh to try and joke about the incident that made her want to dig a hole to the other side of the Earth where nobody would know what happened in that moment. No, she had to continue to live in this city she just moved to, continue to occupy the café she just got a job at, continue to wonder every day if it would be the day where she met the other girl again so she could check on her hand and buy her a coffee. And stare into her eyes whenever possible. While they had casual conversations, of course. She gritted her teeth and forced a smile at the group, pushing her thoughts aside once more as the girl spoke.
"Oh, you work here now? Girl, I'm right next door if you need anything! My family runs Fish Stew Pizza! Come say hi sometime!" she motioned towards the shop and grinned at Lapis. "Name's Jenny! This is Sour Cream-" the skinny blond held up a peace sign at the introduction. "-and Buck!" Buck shot her a finger fun and a small smile. She smiled softly at the two boys in return.
"And the nerd you crippled-" Lapis' heart jumped as Jenny pointed inside. "-that's Peridot! I'm kidding about the cripple part...I think. Again, she should be fine!"
Peridot. How utterly perfect.
"We're around here quite a bit, I'm sure we'll see you again!" Jenny finished.
"I'm sure you will, Jenny." Lapis smiled more and looked down at her feet. "Thank you."
Oh, man, thank you.
The group began to walk past her as they waved, and before she could think to let them know her name, she let go of the door, barely glancing inside one final time towards Peridot, her heart clenching as she caught sight of the green flannel she was wearing—dark green, light green stitching through soft grey—but no more. The door shut and she stared at it a moment before slowly turning around to face the beach, all blue and not so special anymore, the wind picking up and blowing her bangs to the side gently.
Lapis stared off into the distance, her mind slowly attempting to process the events of the past half hour. She stayed silent for a few seconds before a big smile broke out across her face and she looked down at the paper in her hands. She had to hold in a cheer of excitement as she folded up the paper quickly, shoving it into her pocket before twirling in a circle throwing her arms out. "YES." she whispered a bit loud still smiling. Looking around, she spotted the Big Donut and broke out into a jog towards it, turning onto the road that merged with Thayer and kept her pace, looking around with a renewed sense of gratitude.
She had done it. She had landed a job. It took a few days, but that was way better than a few weeks. Way better. The next step was to call her mother and boast about her success. She didn't expect to receive very much praise for it, if any at all, but it would still feel good to let the woman know she had met the expectations of their arrangement rather quickly. She felt more comfortable thinking about her mother at this point, and she relished in the overwhelming sense of relief. She kept up her pace as she let her thoughts wander back to...Peridot.
Lapis had never given much thought to her sexual orientation. She found attraction to whomever was attractive, and that had always been her basis for relationships and such things. She had settled on bisexual; pansexual, even. It just wasn't a big deal to her. She hadn't actually dated much, though she'd had plenty of intimate moments with quite a few people to help her feel she had a grasp on what certain feelings meant.
This, however.
She couldn't remember ever being rendered almost speechless and scattered when just simply looking at someone for the first time. Peridot's appearance had simply turned her whole world upside down for a few brief minutes, and even at this moment, in the midst of her success of getting a job, she found herself occupied with the image of the most beautifully shaded green eyes she had ever seen in her 19 years of life. She had been absolutely enchanted by them.
That word again. Echo. Thoughts. Peridot.
True, her behavior had been rather strange, but Lapis couldn't blame her for it seeing as how she had basically broken her hand. She cringed and slowed her pace as she cut between two houses to emerge onto Crawford Terrace, going back to her jog towards Sussex.
You should really buy her the biggest coffee possible for that.
Lapis rolled her eyes at her inner voice, giving a silent duh in return.
She spotted her street and jogged quicker, turning left and broke out into a run, excitement flooding through her again as she unhooked her keys from her belt loop. Reaching the door of her cozy little home, Lapis jammed the key into the lock and turned it quickly, shoving the door open and running in, slamming it behind her and locking it fast before taking her phone out of her pocket, making her way to her room and throwing her hat and keys on her bed. She pulled her mother's contact information up before hitting the green call button—such a lovely color—and brought the phone up to her ear, falling onto her bed back first. It rang once, twice, thrice, four times before a brittle "Hello?" met her ears. Despite the semi-cold greeting, Lapis couldn't hide the happiness in her voice.
"Mom! Guess what!"
