Ruby and I are almost done unpacking everything from London. After that ordeal with Pearl and Rose yesterday, we figured that finishing up setting up the furniture would take our minds off of things. While we finish up with what's yet to be taken out of the boxes, Amy is over in a corner and playing with little Garnet. I'm so grateful that Ruby and I still have friends like Amy to help ease things. Sure, Amy may drink herself into a hangover when she feels like partying, but she takes really well to little babies like Garnet.
"Get ready for liftoff, little G!" I can hear Amy squealing as she lifts Garnet over her head.
"Be careful with her!" Ruby calls out to Amy. "She's really fragile!"
"Relax, Rube," Amy says. "I totally got this!"
"Okay. Just be careful, though!"
Amy just gives Ruby a wink and then runs off while she's still lifting Garnet over her head.
"Okay, now where were we?" Ruby asks me.
I instantly remember where we left off. "Oh, right! I believe we were going to start unpacking this lamp and move it into our bedroom."
"Oh yeah, good call!" Ruby exclaims. "I'm so glad Pearl let us pick the guest room as a place to sleep. It beats having to share the futon couch with Amy."
"Oh yeah, definitely." I push some of the packaging peanuts out of their designated box to get to the bottom half of our dissembled lamp. "Now where exactly did you want to put the lamp."
"Uh, near the bed?"
"How near?"
"Maybe in the top-left corner."
"Are you sure about that? It might mess up the feng shui."
"Okay, how about the bottom-left corner?"
"Yeah, that sounds like a better place to put it. Plus, the electrical outlet is nearby."
"Alright, sounds good to me."
After we've managed to retrieve the pieces we need to reassemble the lamp, we start doing just that: reassembling the lamp. It's not as easy as it sounds. It takes close to an hour just to completely put the thing together. Just when it seems like we're almost finished, Amy comes back... but she doesn't have Garnet.
"Amy, where's Garnet?" I ask while there's worry in my voice.
"Chill, man," Amy replies. "I gave her to Pearl so I could help you guys."
Just as she says this, Pearl comes walking in with Garnet clutched tightly to her chest.
"How's the unpacking going?" Pearl asks cheerfully. "It looks like you're almost done."
"Yeah, it does, doesn't it?" I ask her back. "How are you handling Garnet?"
"She's just an angel, thank you. Of course, I should already know this from when I visited you some months back, but she still managed to surprise me somehow."
I chuckle. "I know, right? I'll be so sad when she hits those terrible twos."
"Oh, I wouldn't worry about those so much. They might be terrific twos, for all you know."
"But maybe they won't."
"Sapphire, why don't you just leave the worrying to me right now? You and Ruby and Amy still have to unpack. I'll take things from here."
I smile at her. "Thanks, Pearl. You always manage to find the right words to say."
"You're welcome." She then walks off with Garnet to perform an errand.
I'm so grateful to have Pearl in my life. I can be sure Ruby is, too. There's just something about Pearl that gives us such great feelings... like everything will be alright. I know Pearl struggles sometimes (especially when it comes to relationships, like with Rose), but through it all, she always manages to find a way to stay strong... strong in the real way.
After Ruby and Amy and I have finished with the unpacking, we decide to stop by the pizza place where Rose and Greg are. We can hear Kofi arguing with his mother over something in the background while his wife is yelling out the customer's orders to the both of them. The arguing and Kofi's wife yelling out orders almost make it hard to hear what Rose and Greg are saying. Speaking of Rose and Greg, Amy manages to spot them almost immediately.
"Oh, hey, guys!" Greg has to shout to us. "You came just in time."
"Why?" I ask. "What for?"
"Well..." Greg starts to think for a second. "How do I put this? Rose and I will be celebrating our first anniversary later today."
"First anniversary? You've only been together for one day."
"Exactly. We're celebrating one day since we got together."
"And how exactly do you plan to do that?"
"I don't know. That's why I'm glad you came. You could help us come up with some ideas."
"That's right!" Rose concedes. "What do you think we can do?"
I think about it for a minute. Anything to help out two people I care about... Nothing seems to come to me at first, but once it hits me, I speak up on it.
"Well, why don't you guys eat here first?" I suggest. "Then, once you go home, you can do some group karaoke."
Greg is intrigued by what I just suggested. "That's the best idea you could've come up with, Sapphire. How can I thank you?"
"Would you guys share your pizza with us?" Amy asks, quite eager to get a bite of pizza.
"What?" I ask, confused. "Amy, I didn't think..."
"Aw, c'mon!" Amy whines. "I'm really hungry! I haven't even eaten anything since I helped you and Ruby unpack."
I shrug. "Eh, alright. We can have some pizza while we're here."
Amy fist-pumps. "Awesome."
After eating some pizza, it's time for me and the rest of the gang to head on home. But first, we have to stop by Peri's condo and ask to borrow her karaoke machine... well, one of her karaoke machines. She has so many of them that I'm surprised she hasn't tried to sell one of them yet. Surely, she won't mind having to lose one of them for at least a day, right?
I knock on Peri's door. "Peri, are you in there?"
I don't hear anything right now. I wait a few seconds, then knock again. A few more seconds later, Peri opens the door.
"Can I... help you guys?" Peri asks uncertainly. "It'd probably help if you let me know in advance."
"Sorry about that," I reply. "Anyway, we came to borrow a karaoke machine."
"To do karaoke with, right?"
"No, to make into luggage. Of course, it's to do karaoke with."
"Okay... what's the occasion?"
"Rose and Greg are celebrating the twenty-four hours they've been together. We want to help them with some karaoke."
"Alright, but I better be in on the karaoke. Also, make sure you don't break it. It cost me almost half a grand."
"Sounds like a deal."
And so we wait for Peri to go into another room and rummage around for one of her many karaoke machines. We can't wait for the fun to start. I can feel the excitement already.
