Author's Note: The ending of this chapter was bugging me, so I've added a bit at the end just after they finish talking about Jasper (it's before the Line Break) and hopefully that should tie it up better.

You can probably disregard the first paragraph of the end note now.

The first thing Pearl noticed when she woke up was that her face was pressed into a mane of thick hair. Her sleepy mind automatically thought "Rose," and she relaxed into it for a moment before the prickling in her numb arm made her raise her head up. An odd mix of disappointment and content warred within her at the realization that it was Amethyst and not Rose who she was curled around.

Pearl winced as another shock of pins and needles traveled up her arm. She tried to slowly tug her arm out from underneath Amethyst's head without waking her, but it was more difficult than she thought it would be.

"You won't wake her," Garnet said.

Pearl startled, meeting Garnet's bare eyes in the dark room.

"Really. Just yank your arm free," Garnet said, a smile playing around her lips.

"You're sure?"

"I'm sure. Here, I'll help," Garnet said, leaning over and raising Amethyst's shoulders up a few inches. Amethyst mumbled, but other than that, she didn't stir.

Pearl pulled her arm out and flexed her hand, trying to hurry the uncomfortable prickling sensation away. "Thanks," she told Garnet.

Garnet hummed and set Amethyst back down onto the pillows.

"How long have you been up?" Pearl asked.

Garnet shrugged. "Half an hour maybe?"

Pearl reached for her phone to check the time, only to grasp empty air and realize that she had dropped it in her dorm during her fight with Jasper.

"Do you have the time?" Pearl asked.

Garnet shifted to grab her phone and pushed it into Pearl's hands. "I can't look at it," Garnet explained in response to Pearl's confused expression.

"Oh, right," Pearl murmured. She turned the phone on and was quite blinded by the brightness herself; she didn't want to think about what it could do to Garnet's eyes.

Pearl shut the phone off and handed it back to Garnet. "I have some time left," Pearl said, stretching out luxuriously.

Garnet turned on her side and propped her chin over the top of Amethyst's head, staring at Pearl with a peculiar look in her eyes.

"What?" Pearl asked.

"Trying to figure out how it is that we tried to ask each other out on the same day," Garnet said.

Pearl smiled coyly. "So /that's/ what you were trying to do. I must admit, I suspected, but I didn't want to get my hopes up."

Garnet nodded slightly. "When you mentioned you were confused by us the other day we decided we should go ahead and ask."

"I couldn't figure out whether you two liked me or if you both were just terrible flirts," Pearl said with a short laugh, "So I decided to ask you and find out. It was killing me."

Garnet chuckled. "I'm sorry we didn't ask you sooner. We were going to. I don't know if you remember, but you made a comment about polyamory, and we were a little unsure after that."

Pearl frowned, trying to recall what she had said. The only time she ever mentioned polyamory was when she had talked about... "Oh! About Rose and Greg?"

Garnet nodded.

"Sorry," Pearl said with a rueful smile.

"It worked out in the end," Garnet said.

"It did," Pearl said warmly. She raised her hand with the intention to graze Garnet's cheek but paused uncertainly. "Can I?"

"Sure," Garnet said.

Holding her breath a little, Pearl gently brushed Garnet's cheek with the back of her curled fingers. The warmth on her cheeks made Pearl wonder if Garnet was blushing as badly as she was. Garnet sighed; hot air moved against Pearl's hand.

Pearl drew her hand back to her side, suddenly bashful and succumbing to the butterflies in her stomach, and she pressed her blush into Amethyst's shoulder.

Garnet laughed, putting an arm around the both of them.

Pearl dozed off and woke up to Amethyst shifting underneath her. "I'm really feelin' the love, guys," Amethyst said, "But I think you're gonna suffocate me."

Pearl raised her head, confused by the light streaming in through the shuttered window. Her eyes widened at the realization of how much she had slept in and she yelped and scrabbled out from underneath the sheets, landing in the floor as a result.

Amethyst and Garnet popped their heads over the edge of the bed.

"You okay, dude?" Amethyst asked.

"Fine, I'm fine," Pearl insisted, standing up faster than she should have. "A little sore," she added, wincing.

"You should really take it easy today," Garnet said.

"I'll try, but I still have to go to class." Pearl looked at the morning light again anxiously. "I have to get ready."

"Do you want us to walk you there?" Garnet asked.

"No, it's okay. You can stay in bed," Pearl said, knowing both of their classes started later than hers did. "I'm really regretting scheduling a class so early in the morning."

Amethyst laughed. "Yeah, just think, you coulda hung out with us some more."

(Line Break)

Pearl was disappointed to see her bill show up on her account only a few hours after she had told her RA about the damage to her door. The bill wasn't as bad as she thought it would be, but that wasn't the entire issue: the issue was the future call to her parents she knew she would have to make.

"Just tell 'em it was Jasper's fault. It's the truth, isn't it?" Amethyst said, kicking her feet lazily in the air as she hung upside down off the couch.

Pearl grimaced, shaking her head. "No, they can't find out about that. They'll never let me out of the house again."

"Dude. You're an adult. They can't keep you there," Amethyst said.

"Maybe it /was/ a little bit of an exaggeration," Pearl admitted, "But still, I don't want them to know about the break in. They... They wouldn't take it well."

Amethyst hauled herself right side up, holding her head as the blood rushed back. "So then what are you gonna tell them?"

Pearl tapped her fingers restlessly against the keyboard of her laptop. "I guess I'll have to lie about it," she said forebodingly. "But oh, I don't want to call them..."

Scoffing slightly at Pearl's words, Amethyst walked across the room to sprinkle food into her tiny tank of stolen shrimp.

"What?" Pearl said.

"Have you ever lied before in your life?" Amethyst asked, incredulous.

Pearl huffed indignantly. "You seem to think I'm more innocent than I am, Amethyst."

Amethyst shrugged, setting the lid back over the shrimp tank. "Says the girl whose rebellious phase was 'not paying as much attention in church,'" she teased.

Pearl scowled at her laptop and sighed deeply.

Amethyst plopped back down on the couch beside her. "You know, I'm surprised the shrimp have lasted this long. I was afraid Onion and Sour Cream would eat each other."

Pearl made a face. "I'm surprised you haven't been caught yet," she said.

"The RA's a slacker," Amethyst said.

"Except when it comes to filing the damage report to the finance office," Pearl grumbled.

"Just call your parents and get it over with," Amethyst urged. "I'll take you out for ice cream after."

"Ice cream in this cold weather?"

Amethyst rolled her eyes, bumping Pearl with her shoulder. "Okay, pizza then. But you gotta call. It's no fun watching you stress, P."

Pearl took a deep breath and closed her laptop. "Okay. I can do this," she told herself.

"Atta girl," Amethyst cheered.

Pearl flushed at the praise before swallowing nervously, gazing at the name "Mom" in her phone. "Ookay," she said again.

She pressed the call button and waited with baited breath.

"Pearl! It's so good of you to call!" Her mother's subtle Southern lilt burst against Pearl's ears.

"Hey Mom," Pearl said, trying to keep her tone light.

"Why didn't you visit last weekend? You said you were going to," her mother said, the pout evident in her voice. "Pearl thinks she's all grown up and doesn't have any time for her parents," she continued in a baby voice.

Pearl cringed, tugging nervously at the edge of her sweater. Amethyst met her eyes, questioning and concerned; Pearl smiled warily back.

Her mother's voice took on an exasperated tone. "Heaven forbid I ever see my daughter-"

"I'm sorry," Pearl cut in. "I got sick last weekend. I'll visit this weekend, promise."

"As long as you keep your promise this time, dear," her mother said.

"Of course," Pearl replied, setting the phone against her shoulder to wipe her clammy hands against her jeans. "Now uh, why I called..."

"Oh here it is. What happened?"

"Uhm, I- I fell," Pearl began, her nervousness and exposure to her mother's accent bringing her own out, words drawling amidst her stutters, "But I'm okay. Just uh, I damaged the- my door and, ah, it broke."

"You broke the door?" Her mother repeated slowly.

"Y- yes, and they charged me for it," Pearl added, squeaking a little.

Her mother sighed loudly, irritably. "Pearl, I know you don't understand this, but we don't have infinite money that we can just throw at you. We're already paying your tuition. Your father's job isn't doing well and we don't have any money to waste."

"I know, I know," Pearl said. "Wait, dad's job isn't doing well?"

"...No," her mother admitted. "In hindsight, moving here may not have been the best of decisions."

"Oh," Pearl breathed. "I'm sorry."

"Yeah..." Her mother trailed off.

Pearl cleared her throat. "Well, I'll email you the bill. And uh, see you this weekend."

"Well, alright, sweetie," her mother said, sounding reluctant to end the conversation. "We'll be looking forward to it. Love you."

"Love you too," Pearl said quickly. She hung up a moment later, breathing a sigh of relief.

"How'd it go?" Amethyst asked.

"Better than I thought it would," Pearl said, flopping onto the couch.

"I liked your accent," Amethyst said, grinning.

Pearl clapped a hand over her mouth as if she could retract her accented words.

"Chill, chill. It wasn't that bad," Amethyst reassured her. "Kinda cute actually," she added shyly.

Pearl blushed. "Well, thank you. Now I believe you promised me pizza."

Amethyst roared out a laugh and hopped to her feet. "Alright, alright. Let's go ask Garnet if she's coming though."

Pearl followed Amethyst to the closed bedroom. "Hey G," Amethyst said, rapping her knuckles against the door, "We're going out for pizza. You wanna come?"

Garnet opened the door a moment later. "Yeah, I'll come," she said, sounding drowsy.

"You sure? We'll bring you some back if you need to chill more," Amethyst said.

"No, I'll go. I need some air," Garnet said, turning back to grab her shoes.

"...Are you alright?" Pearl asked as Garnet slipped past her.

"Fine." Garnet turned her head to throw a quick smile over her shoulder.

"She just needs space sometimes," Amethyst explained with a shrug.

"That and I just woke up. I'm not always so out of it," Garnet said, amused.

"Oh, well that's good," Pearl said as she put on her jacket.

"Yeah," Amethyst said, laughing, "Hey G, do you remember that one time in high school when you disappeared for like, two days?"

Garnet snatched her keys up from off the coffee table. "Vividly. I was very stressed."

They stepped into the hallway and Garnet locked the door while Pearl frowned at her own still broken door for a moment. She drew her attention back to Garnet, her curiosity getting the better of her. "Why? If you're okay with answering," Pearl said.

Garnet hummed, taking Amethyst's hand as they made their way out of the building. "There were some family friends staying out at our house that week, so it felt like I was constantly surrounded by people, from school to home, and I'm-" She laughed. "-I'm terribly introverted, so I got a bit frazzled with it all. On top of all that, I was homesick."

"I can understand that," Pearl said empathetically.

"Oh don't spare my feelings," Amethyst said to Garnet, "You know I was a part of that, too."

Garnet grimaced. "True. We worked past it though."

"We had just started dating and I was a bit uh, over enthusiastic," Amethyst explained to Pearl.

"Oh," Pearl eloquently said.

"I think I almost stifled ya," Amethyst said, looking up at Garnet.

Garnet heard the unspoken apology in her voice and shushed her. "It's in the past."

"Yeah. Yeah, you're right," Amethyst said, brightening.

(Line Break)

Pearl was suddenly ravenous the moment she set foot in the warm pizza parlor. They settled in a booth in the corner, mostly out of sight of the other guests. Pearl took her jacket off and sat beside Amethyst; Garnet sat across from them.

They ordered a pizza with half cheese and the other half topped with absolutely everything at Amethyst's request.

"Anchovies, really?" Pearl asked, slightly revolted.

"Don't knock it 'til you try it," Amethyst said with a wink.

Pearl shook her head and sipped her coke.

Garnet shifted in her seat, leaning forward. "Does this count as our first date?"

Pearl sputtered, coughing on her drink.

"Please, no more choking," Amethyst begged.

"I'm fine," Pearl said, wiping her mouth. "But um, /does/ this count?" She asked, glancing between Garnet and Amethyst.

Amethyst shrugged, one hand going to rub the back of her neck nervously. "I mean, I don't see why not..."

"Sure," Garnet said, "If that's okay with you."

Pearl nodded and suddenly felt the constant underlying tension between the three of them flare up to an all time high, effectively silencing everyone at the table.

The waiter came by to drop off their pizza and left with a chorus of thank you's. Amethyst dug in immediately, and Pearl watched with an expression morphed between disgust and awe.

"What's... your favorite color?" Garnet asked.

"What? Oh, um." Pearl frowned; half a year ago she would have said pink in a heartbeat, but now? "I don't know," she confessed, "Pink? Blue maybe?"

Garnet nodded as she tossed her anchovies onto Amethyst's plate. "Mine's red."

"Purple," Amethyst declared for hers.

"What's your favorite animal?" Pearl asked. Garnet smiled at Pearl's budding confidence.

"Hmm. A cat. But like a big scary cat," Amethyst said while dowsing her pizza in spices and parmesan cheese.

"Do dragons count?" Garnet asked.

Amethyst gasped dramatically. "I change my answer!"

Pearl laughed into her pizza. "I like birds." She paused before adding, "Anything that flies, really."

"Dude, we should go hang gliding," Amethyst decided.

"Why?" Pearl asked, confused.

"Because you want to fly."

"Oh. It's more the idea of being closer to the stars than anything," Pearl said. "One time when I was little, my father went on a business trip and we all went with him as a sort of vacation. On the plane we flew above the clouds at one point, and- I've never seen so many stars all at once." Pearl sighed, the thought of stars bringing the memory of that summer night with Rose to the front of her mind. She tried to shake it off.

"So. Your turn, Amethyst," Pearl said.

"For wha'?" Amethyst asked around a mouthful of pizza.

"Asking a question," Garnet answered. She leaned back comfortably in a stretch, her ankles brushing Pearl's under the table. Garnet wore a quiet smirk, and if she hadn't been wearing dark glasses, Pearl could have sworn Garnet met her eyes.

"What'ssss..." Amethyst tapped her chin in contemplation. "What's the stupidest thing you've ever done?" She asked, mischief in her tone.

Pearl rubbed her face, groaning. "I'm going to need some time on that one."

Amethyst laughed giddily.

"I dyed my hair in protest of moving," Garnet said, "It looked terrible."

Amethyst grinned. "I remember that. I thought it looked cool."

"I regretted it immediately after," Garnet said, chuckling at the memory.

"For me, geesh, I don't know. I've done a lot of stupid things," Amethyst said. "It was probably trying to skateboard off of the roof. Or maybe that one time I tried to spook that guy who turned out to be some sorta secret karate master." She paused. "No, actually, the stupidest thing was when I tried to cartwheel in a grocery store and I cartwheeled right into a giant chips and dip display. And that one hurt."

"How are you even alive?" Pearl asked.

Amethyst shrugged earnestly. "Sometimes I wonder."

"Well, for mine, I had completely misinterpreted the instructions for this huge paper due at the end of ninth grade, and I realized it the night before, so I had to-"

Pearl froze, eyes wide as she caught sight of a familiar figure striding towards their table.

"What is it?" Garnet asked, twisting around to peer above the booth. "...Jasper."

Jasper stopped at the end of the table, drumming her fingers against the edge. Pearl was oddly proud to see a bruise blooming on Jasper's jaw, evidence of how hard Pearl had whacked her.

"Jasper," Amethyst greeted, a little colder than usual.

Jasper sighed loudly, seeming frustrated. "Listen," she looked at Pearl, "I want to apologize for last night."

Pearl nodded, waiting for her to continue.

"So, I'm sorry. I thought you were in /my/ room and I will admit, I was a little drunk, so ah..." Jasper swallowed and grimaced. "Sorry."

"Oh." Pearl blinked; she hadn't been expecting an apology from her. "Thank you for apologizing, Jasper."

Jasper palmed her pockets and pulled out her wallet. "I wasn't prepared to see you, so I don't have much on me, but I might be able to give you enough money to pay for that lamp I broke."

"And the door," Amethyst added.

Jasper wilted further, an unnatural look for her broad shoulders. "I broke the door?"

"Yep," Garnet said.

"Well this is all I have," Jasper said, offering a handful of bills to Pearl.

"No, no," Pearl protested, "Please, keep your money Jasper. It's okay."

"I insist," Jasper said.

Pearl pushed her hand away. "I won't take your money."

"Please," Jasper begged, "Take half?"

"Jasper," Pearl said, frowning.

Jasper grit her teeth, throwing a twenty down on the table. "I'm not taking that back," she nearly hissed.

Pearl flinched.

Jasper pressed her hands into her face and swore. "Sorry," she said again.

"Hey," Garnet said, "You alright?"

Jasper drew her hands away from her face and wrapped them around the edge of the table, refusing to meet Garnet's gaze. "Yeah," she mumbled.

Garnet made a noncommittal hum.

"Why were you chasing Peridot yesterday? Just out of curiosity," Amethyst said.

"Little runt said something about my mother," Jasper said, the edge of a growl to her voice.

"Oh, yeah. Well you know Peridot," Amethyst said, "She's not the best with... tact."

Jasper nodded, knocking a fist lightly against the table. She took a deep breath and looked up. "I should go. Um, sorry about- everything," she said.

"It's alright," Pearl reassured her, still stunned to see how different this Jasper was compared to last night's Jasper. "Really."

Jasper shoved her hands in her pockets and made to leave, but Garnet spoke up. "I'll see you at boxing on Monday, won't I?"

Jasper paused, still for a moment. "Yeah," she finally said, waving a hand in farewell.

Pearl watched the woman return to her table across the restaurant.

"Well, hey," Amethyst said, "You got twenty bucks outta that, P."

Pearl blew out a puff of air, deflating somewhat after the tense situation. "Is she always like that?"

"What, Jasper? Nah, she's usually a little more upbeat," Amethyst said.

"Great athlete," Garnet commented.

Pearl finished her slice of pizza in thoughtful silence.

"You guys wanna bail?" Amethyst asked after a while. The other two voiced their agreement before paying and exiting the pizza place. The setting sun painted the parking lot in a red light and Pearl admired the bright outline it created around Garnet's hair.

"Coming, P?" Amethyst asked, already at the car with Garnet. Garnet smiled as if she knew what Pearl's gaze was caught on.

Pearl shook her head to clear away her distracting thoughts. "Yes, sorry," she said.

"Don't worry about it," Garnet said, ducking into the driver's seat.

After a small internal debate, Pearl decided to join Amethyst in the back seat instead of claiming shotgun (something she was surprised Amethyst hadn't already done) and Garnet started the car. As Amethyst and Garnet lightly bickered over what radio station to put on, Pearl stared out the window, the steady rumble of the car making her eyelids heavy.

Pearl unthinkingly rested her head on Amethyst's, freezing when Amethyst stiffened and stopped mid sentence. "Sorry," Pearl said, lifting her head up.

"No, no," Amethyst said quickly, "You can put your head back. If you want. I don't mind."

Pearl smiled at Amethyst's flustered expression and set her head back down.

(Line Break)

They stood in front of their doors in varying degrees of awkwardness as they said their goodbyes. "Well, I had fun," Pearl said.

"Yeah, we should do more date stuff sometime," Amethyst said. She pointed at Pearl and grinned cockily. "You still gotta take us out somewhere since you /technically/ asked us out."

Pearl sputtered for a moment before sighing. "Alright, I'm sure I can think of something."

The conversation came to a halt, and Pearl struggled with the decision to initiate something, a hug, a kiss, anything. If she hadn't been so busy with her own thoughts she would have realized Garnet and Amethyst were agonizing over the same decision.

"...I guess we should get to bed," Garnet said.

"Yeah," Pearl said, nodding. She still wanted to kiss them. Wasn't that something people did at the end of first dates? She wasn't exactly sure, having only dated Rose in the past.

And who would she kiss first? Would the other be upset?

Pearl nearly groaned aloud at her indecisiveness. "Good night Garnet, Amethyst," she eventually said, shouldering her broken door open.

"Good night," they both said before going into their own dorm.

Pearl sighed as she closed her door. "Next time. Next time I'm definitely doing something," she promised.

Author's Note: I could not figure out how to end this chapter properly. Right now it ends with Jasper and that makes it seem like Jasper's gonna be really important later on. She's probably gonna join their friend group, but to be honest she's a minor character at most. That might change, but as of now I feel like I've given you a red herring. Sorry.

I'm gonna be busy next week, so there may or may not be a chapter up on Friday. Who knows.

As always, thanks for reading, guys!