Steven Universe: Coffee, Cats, and Space Buns

Connie's dorm room had been boisterous since 9 in the morning that day. People came in and out to speak with her dorm mate while she quietly studied. Well, at least, she tried to study. After an hour of attempting to get her calculus homework done, she let out a frustrated sigh and leaned back. "Macie, can't you and your friends hang out somewhere else?"

Macie looked up from her phone and rolled her eyes, "Connie, you're so antisocial. How about you hang out with us for once? Didn't you say you would help us study one of these days?" Connie frowned at her before setting her pencil down.

"You can come study with me anytime. You always say you're too busy. That's not my fault." Tension rose in the room as they glared at each other. Connie felt that Macie was always purposely stepping on her toes. She had asked to be roomed with someone neat, quiet, and studious. Instead, she had been given someone who was the complete opposite. People were always in and out, clothes and make up were always strewn everywhere, and she had never seen Macie pull out her textbooks even once.

After a long stare, Macie sighed. "Fine. How about you help us study right now, then? We could really use the help. I promise we'll take our fun elsewhere starting tomorrow." Connie hesitated. Could she really trust the deal? However, the idea of having a quiet space in her dorm room for the rest of the semester was an intriguing prospect. Connie nodded, "Okay, sure, if you pull out your books, we can start."

Macie pulled out her study supplies as her friends left to grab their bags as well. As they came back, one of her friends brought some more dorm mates. They all sat together as Connie helped them through math problems. They all happened to be in the same Algebra 2 class. Connie thanked the stars that it was such an easy class. It made it a breeze to explain it all.

Right before they passed the thirty minute mark, a boy with sandy hair groaned and dropped his pencil onto his notebook. "Ugh, this is so boring, can't we take a break? I hate math!" A couple other kids nodded in agreement. Macie looked over to her, the corner of her lip upturned. "Yeah, can't we? You seem pretty cool, Connie, and you're a great teacher. How about you loosen up a little and then we'll keep studying some more?"

She hesitated. She thought she had something she was supposed to do today, but she couldn't quite remember what it was. Everyone looked over to her expectantly as she tucked a hair behind her ear. "W-Well… I guess that's alright. We'll study in a bit then…"

'A bit' turned into an hour, and an hour turned into multiple hours. Before she knew it, it was after 2pm and they were all outside on the Quad eating fries and hanging out in a circle. The kid with the sandy blonde hair seemed to take a liking to her as he chatted her up with a friendly demeanor. Connie had never felt popular before in her life, and if this is what it felt like, she would definitely get used to it. His name was Devon, and Connie couldn't help but feel at ease around him. He spent the majority of the time with the group playing his guitar and talking to Connie and the other girls.

As she chuckled at a guy named Trey throwing fries over to a flock of birds, a familiar ringtone played. She pulled out her phone and quickly answered, excited to talk to Steven. "Hey Steven! What's up, how are you?" Steven sounded nervous on the other side. As he spoke, she realized just what he called her about. "Oh my goodness, Steven, I'm so sorry! I completely forgot about our date!" She continued to explain the situation until everyone laughed at Trey feeding the birds. Even Connie couldn't help but chuckle at his antics. "Anyways Steven, I can't g-"

Devon was the one to cut her off this time, "Hey! Connie! You comin' back to the group or what?" She shot him a look. Steven could get so jealous and insecure over little things. She had been around him long enough to know that Devon's attitude would plague him with little doubts. "Hey Steven, do you maybe want to go tomorrow? I'm kind of busy today, I'm so sorry I forgot!"

As she listened to Steven's reply, her phone was plucked out of her hand by Macie as she hit the end button. "Macie! That wasn't cool! I was talking to-"

"Dude, you're hanging out with us, did you forget that? I was only helping you get a break from him. Don't you text him like, everyday? That must feel awfully pushy of him, right?" Connie's eyebrows furrowed as she crossed her arms. "Steven is a friend, so no, it doesn't feel pushy."

Devon shook his head at Macie, "Hey, Macie, chill, won't you? It's fine. How about we hang out for a bit longer?" Macie dropped the subject immediately as she gave Devon an innocent smile. "Sure! A little while longer and we'll resume studying, right, Connie?"

Connie stared quizzically at Macie before nodding, "Uh, sure… Just a while longer." It was clear that Macie was crushing hard on Devon. He seemed pretty friendly to everyone. It wasn't hard to see a lot of the girls in the group seemed to have a thing for him. Even Connie felt butterflies at his smile. He was pretty cute. Regardless, the nagging feeling that Connie had done something wrong cancelling on Steven ate at her. She would rather have hung out with Steven instead. Now, she might not get to see him or the movie.

It wasn't until four that people started heading out in smaller groups to grab a bite to eat. Realizing they had only studied for maybe half an hour, she protested, "Hey, weren't we all going to keep studying?" Devon shrugged at her as Macie smiled, "Seems like no one wants to study, girl, how about you go study by yourself? We'll try to keep out of the room from now on, but no promises!"

Connie let out a frustrated growl before getting up and storming off. She felt used somehow, but couldn't put her finger on why. Devon tried to chase after her, "Hey! Wait! Do you maybe want to get dinner or a movie together? I heard RoboCop 4 is playing today." Connie hesitated, "Well… I promised Steven I'd go with him… Let me call him first, okay?"

Devon nodded and waited patiently as she tapped on his contact and called. She listened to the ringing until she heard his voicemail. Her stomach hit the ground. That's not a good sign, she thought, He's probably really upset. "Did he not answer? You know, we could go together, if you want. No use sitting around all night feeling down."

It didn't feel right to go without Steven. They had watched almost every single movie together up to this point. Plus, he had the tickets and she was sure it would be sold out by now. After all, it was premiering tonight. "I don't know, we might not even be able to get in…"

Devon grinned before pulling out two tickets. "Even with these tickets? Come on, it'll be fun. Macie told me you loved Robocop, so I thought we could go together! I was going to go with a friend, but they decided not to come." Connie's eyes shone at the sight of the tickets. Maybe going wouldn't hurt anything. Pushing away her feelings of guilt, she nodded. "I'd love to go. I absolutely adore Robocop, he's the best."

Devon laughed, "Dude, same. Let's go then."

The air was chilly as they walked up to the large cinema. It was one of the greatest parts of living in a city. Whenever she wanted, she could go see architectural masterpieces like this place. In front of the cinema was a large circular fountain with a statue of a fish in the middle. The fountain was in front of the entrance that had revolving doors. It was such a little thing that she couldn't help but be excited over. Where would she ever find revolving doors where she used to live? The greatest masterpiece there was Steven's house.

Devon and Connie made their way to the fountain to wait a while outside of the cramped theater. As they rounded a corner, she saw a couple sitting on the side of the bench and talking. "Oh crap…" She looked over to Devon to see him burning red with shame as he moved to walk away. She grabbed him by the arm, "Wait, where are you goi-"

"Connie? Is that you?" She looked back to see Steven sitting with a girl with pink spacebuns. That was Olivia! She had seen her often in Macie's group, sitting close to Devon. She was always making googly eyes at Devon and laughing at silly things he'd say. Why would she be with Steven? Looking back over to Steven, she flinched to see his eyes full of hurt.

"U-Uh… Yeah, hi, Steven. You didn't answer, so I was going to go with-" Steven stood up with a steely look in his eyes. "You don't have to answer, Connie. I get it. This is who you were with earlier, right?" Devon smiled at him and avoided Liv's gaze. "Hi, I'm Devon…"

"You ditched on your date with me to go with Connie?" Liv was furious, "How could you? You said you liked me!" Devon opened his mouth to speak but was interrupted by Steven, "You both ditched us to for each other? What the hell is wrong with you guys?"

Connie frowned and balled her fists up, "What do you mean? I wasn't ditching you, I was just busy! And then you never answered!" Steven's voice rose defiantly, "No, that was ditching! You could've came on our date! I haven't seen you in months, Connie! Don't you know how excited I was to see you?" He took a deep breath in an attempt to calm down but to no avail.

"Look, Steven, I'm sorry, okay? I wanted to go with you, but you didn't answer, so I told Devon I'd go with him instead." Devon looked away, scratching his head awkwardly. "Whatever, Connie. Have fun with Devon. I guess what they say is true. Birds of a feather and all… Come on, Liv, let's go watch RoboCop…"

"Steven, wait!" It was too late. Steven had already taken Liv's hand and led the sniffling girl towards the theater. Her face fell and she felt her gnawing guilt grow. This was all her fault. At the same time, she felt herself blame Steven. "Dang it, if he hadn't taken me forgetting so personally and ignored my call, then we'd be going together! He acts like it's all my fault!"

Devon sat next to her, "It's not your fault at all! It's okay to change plans whenever you want. It's your life, after all! Why would you spend it worrying about what other people think or feel about you? Let him be upset and just do what you want!"

"That has got to be the stupidest thing I've ever heard in my life. Of course I care what Steven thinks! I really like him, okay? And you got in the way with that! What were you thinking ditching on Liv? What's wrong with you!"

He scoffed and got up, "You know, I thought you were cool, Connie, but you're being a huge jerk. I didn't want to go with Liv, okay? I wanted to get her off my back is all. Whatever, I'm going to go see the movie, alone."

She didn't stop him as he put his hands in his pockets and skulked into the movie theater. Once again, she was all alone. She felt tears well in her eyes. Connie had been so, so excited to see RoboCop 4 with Steven. Now, she'd be lucky to either for a very long time. Getting up and wiping her eyes, she began the long walk back to her dorm room before collapsing on her bed. As she crawled under the covers, she fell asleep with her face still wet with tears. She'd try to get ahold of Steven in the morning, even if she knew he wouldn't answer.