Peridot ran up the stairs of their holiday home and slammed the door of her bedroom shut as she entered, throwing herself on her bed in the process. She grabbed her stuffed toy and hugged it tightly against herself, trying to slow down her racing heartbeat. This was the exact reason she hated interacting with others. People were just so dumb and inconsiderate. Always using their stupidity to make up excuses for what they don't know or understand. She couldn't understand why they were so happy in their lack of intelligence.

She curled up in a ball and stared intensely at the wall. She couldn't get the feeling of almost drowning out of her head. She enjoyed adrenaline to a certain point, just like anybody else, but a near death experience was too much for her. She'd never been so glad her brother existed.

As she calmed down, her mind slowly came back to reality. She quickly got up and took off her wet clothes, changing into a completely new outfit, yet similar in its simplicity. She once again dried her hair, and looked at her towel in disgust as she found some sand. She tossed it and the wet clothes in a corner and just sat silently on the side of her bed. She stared blankly at the door, her mind clear. After a few seconds of numbness, her eyes drifted to her bedside table where the shell Lapis had given her sat. She cursed herself. She'd forgotten that Lapis was waiting for her. How long had she left her for ? Half an hour ? An hour ? Would she still be there ? She automatically bounced up at that thought and headed out again, almost forgetting what had just happened. And forgetting shoes.

She ran across the hot sand over to the rocky beach and danced around the rocks, trying not to fall over and hurt herself. She'd had enough pain for one day. But as she approached their spot she couldn't see her. But she went there anyway. She sat on the edge and sighed, defeated. The day had started out so well, she had an indirect kiss with Lapis, was able to hold her as she rested on her lap. Then Ronaldo. Ruining things. Humans... she sighed, then chuckled, realizing she had said that as if she was an alien. Sometimes she wished she was, it would explain why she was nothing like anyone else. It'd make it easier.

She leaned back, propping herself up on her hands, shut her eyes, facing the sky, and thought about Lapis, the only thing she had to cheer her up. Which she thought was kind of sad, but it was the truth. So she let herself zone out completely, remembering her time with her, blocking out the negativity of the day with the beautiful blue mermaid. She heard a splashing sound, but it hadn't registered with her. She was too busy using her perfect photographic memory to remember details of their time together that she hadn't been able to appreciate at the time, like her surprising perfume, who was oddly not like fish at all but more like... flowers. She couldn't understand why a being living underwater would smell like that and she didn't care to think about it. And she could almost smell it right now. She breathed in deeply at smiled softly.

"Peri ?"

She instantly snapped out of her day-dream and almost fell back. She quickly adjusted herself, sitting up straight and giving her an awkward smile, trying to compose herself and hush away her thoughts about her.

"H-hey Lapis"

"How was your brother and his friend, were they doing ok ?"

"Uh..." All the events flashed before her eyes again and she grumbled "They were fine." Lapis was uncomfortably sat on the rocks beside her, with a confused look on her face. Peridot sighed and decided to explain. "It was Ronaldo, the boy who stole my stuff from the beach earlier. He stole my laptop, tied me up and then almost drowned me."

"Drowning ?"

"Humans can't breathe underwater, i was tied up and face down in the water, i couldn't get any air, i was suffocating on water, drowning. Humans die from that."

"Oh- uhm, are you.. ok ?" She sheepishly asked. Peridot stayed silent a second, over thinking her words. Was her concern friendly or more ? She wished people could just be honest and straight forward in their feelings, but then again, she herself hadn't told her about her crush yet. But from her previous research, crushes were usually just that, crushes, nothing more. Was what she feeling just a crush ? or ?

"I'm fine, i was in shock for a bit, but I'm ok- I'm glad your here to cheer me up Lapis." Peridot complimented her, trying to observe her reaction. She couldn't be sure whether she had blushed or not, since distinguishing between shades of blue from her face and wet hair was difficult. "I'm sorry you had to wait though, i mean, you must be tired, right ? I mean you were already earlier but you must be even more now, you waited like... half an hour, an hour ?"

"I'll be fine, thanks for the concern though." She smiled, making Peridot's heart burst. She'd never had a crush before, but for a first crush , it was hitting her hard. On one side, she was loving it; the happiness she was feeling just with the presence of another was incredible, but on the other, she found it ridiculous that someone with her degree of intelligence was falling for the emotion created by the release of dopamine, serotonin and adrenaline in the brain. "I'm glad your ok Peri, you were taking longer than i expected and i didn't want to leave without knowing you were ok."

She was unsure whether it was a fact that she was just trying to convince herself, but she was practically sure Lapis felt the same way about her. She had been flustered when they shared air, she didn't want to move away from contact with her and didn't want to leave without ensuring she was ok. She had to be feeling the same way. Friends don't do that, she was sure of it.

"Thanks" She glanced at the water and dipped her foot in, testing the water. It was starting to cool down as the end of the afternoon approached, but she figured she'd be ok for a little while in the water, and if it did get too cold, she could make a move and get close to Lapis for warmth. She almost laughed at the thought. Lapis watched as Peridot once again stripped into her swimming costume and got into the water, and followed her in. She watched as Peridot put in a lot of effort to stay afloat and cracked a grin.

"You don't have to get in the water just for me, you know, it looks tiring for you."

"It is, but I'll be ok, I need to do more exercise anyway." She pushed off the side and swam a few meters away from the shore, Lapis gliding through the water beside her. She looked amazing. "Oooh ok i won't go further than this, the water's too cold past here, I'm guessing it gets really deep-" Deep waters, fish, jellyfish, sharks and piranhas. She'd never let herself stay in this area of the sea as long as she is if she didn't have Lapis with her. She could fend off any vicious beast that'd take a try at her legs. Jellyfish... she randomly pondered. If i get stung, she can't pee on me, I'd have to pee on my self. How humiliating. She snapped back to reality and realized she was being observed. "S-sorry, i get lost in my thoughts sometimes."

"Oh ? What were you thinking about ?" Peridot gulped. She was thinking about how amazing Lapis was and having to pee on herself in the event of a jellyfish. Not exactly thoughts she wanted to share with her right now.

"Hmm, n-nothing really, just the- uhm- maybe i left the oven on ?" Great save, she sarcastically mocked herself. At least she didn't know what an oven was. Hopefully she wouldn't even ask.

"Oh, i see." She replied, visibly confused but unwilling to ask. Which made Peridot relieved. She quickly took a glance at the sky, wondering what time is was. If she had made it to the beach for 3pm and was gone for about an hour, it was 4pm and sundown wasn't for another 2 hours. She looked back at Lapis and smiled. "Where's the ruins you wanted to show me ?"

"Oh- the other side of the beach,about almost a mile down." She replied, surprised. "But you can't breathe underwater ?"

"I know, but i could get some equipment so that i can tomorrow" she paused, blushing at what she was about to say " Or, Y'know, we could do like earlier? "

"I thought you didn't like it ?"

"I-i did ! I mean, i didn't mind. I was surprised to be kept underwater, but it was fine, i mean, I'm ok with, you know... sharing air..." She subconsciously looked away, somewhat embarrassed at failure to make a coherent sentence. She would have found it impossible just a week ago for her to be at such loss of words. She who was usually so masterful with her vocabulary.

"Hmm, i don't think it'd be a good idea now, that deep would be too cold for you, but there's some cool stuff in the shallower areas if you want."

"S-sure !"