Steven Universe: Coffee, Cats, and Space Buns
It wasn't until late morning that Connie woke up still in her clothes from the day before. Sitting up and wiping the crusties out of her eyes, she looked around to see the room empty. It seemed that Macie had made good on her promise and cleared out to hang with friends instead. She grabbed her phone on the end table to find a message from Steven. 'Hey, Connie. I hope you made it to your dorm safe. Text me when you can – Steven'.
She growled and threw her phone across the room where it flopped safely onto a fluffy rug. Falling back into bed, she recalled the night before. Connie didn't know what to think or even how to react. Multiple emotions flowed freely through her body: anger, guilt, sadness, and hurt. She crawled up into a ball and opted to have a moment to herself.
Suddenly, Connie was interrupted by soft knocking on the door. Even though it was barely audible, it lurched her out of her head like a car coming to a stop. She got up and opened her door to see a shameful looking Liv on the other side. "Oh… Hi Liv." The bitterness in her words was palpable.
"Hey Connie… Um, do you mind if I come in and talk to you?" Connie didn't make a move to let her in the room and Liv gave a nervous chuckle. "Uh… Please?"
Silently moving away from the door and sitting in her desk chair, Connie stared at her with a steely expression. "So, what do you want to talk about, Liv? Did you and Steven have a fun time yesterday?"
Liv carefully closed the door before standing in the middle of the room. The air was thick with tension and Liv fidgeted with her fingers. "W-Well, uh… That's what I want to talk about. You see, I've felt terrible all night-"
Connie groaned, "You aren't here just to say sorry for going with him, are you? Don't rub it in my face. If that's what you-"
Liv interrupted, clasping her hands together. "No! It's more than that! Connie, Steven and I kissed last night! Steven and I feel ter-"
"He what?" Connie rose from her seat. "Get out!" Liv opened her mouth to interrupt but was immediately cut off. "I said get out!"
The shorter girl left immediately, eager to get away from the situation. Connie took a couple deep breaths before retrieving her phone from the rug and calling Steven. He answered almost immediately. "Connie! Thank god you called-"
"Steven, did you kiss Liv last night?"
There was a short silence on the other side. "Yes… I'm sorry, Connie, I wasn't thinking…"
"When did you plan on telling me?" Connie felt her heart sink. She never had expected that Steven would've done this to her.
"As soon as you called… I want to explain in person though. Please, Connie…"
Connie wrestled with herself. Part of her wanted to see Steven and hear him out. Another part of her wanted to scream in his face and never see him again. The former part won over. She sighed. "Fine, but I get to choose the place. Meet me in front of Sir Roberto's in an hour."
She heard a sigh of relief over the phone, "Sure, that works for me. Sorry again, Connie."
Connie hung up and looked in the mirror. Her hair was a mess and her clothes were all wrinkly. Her appearance showed just how much this she had let this situation get to her. There's no way I'm going to let Steven see me like this. Letting out a sigh, Connie picked up a hairbrush and started getting ready.
For the second day in a row, Steven waited outside of a beautiful building on a bustling street for Connie to arrive. Just like last time, his stomach was filled with knots and his eyes barely left his phone. She hadn't come along yesterday, and he had done something horrendous. Why was she even bothering to come meet him? What if she just wanted to set me up to wait for her again, to get my hopes up… Thankfully, Steven didn't have to wait long.
"H-Hi Connie! It's nice to see y-"
"Just go inside, Steven."
He cleared his throat and walked into the brightly colored Mexican restaurant. They were immediately seated in a booth away from any other customers. The waitress was bubbly, laughing often while getting their orders. Both looked at the menu briefly before ordering something small from the lunch menu.
As the waitress placed some chips and salsa between them, Connie took a chip and bit into it. "So, Steven, you said you wanted to explain. So, explain." Steven noticed that she had taken the time to braid her hair and wear a nice sweater. It wasn't hard to notice. After all, he was looking at everything except her face. He didn't want to see the disappointment in her eyes.
"Okay… Well, I felt like you blew me off on our date, and Liv was at the café too and she'd been blown off by… Whoever that guy was… So I offered to take her to see the movie. We agreed it was a small date. N-Nothing, like, super romantic or anything!"
"Okay… Go on…"
"Well, I didn't want to answer my phone when you called because it didn't feel fair. I felt like you didn't value my time enough the first time, so I didn't want to give you the satisfaction of answering. It wasn't fair to Liv either. I didn't want you to change your mind and for me to have to flake out on her like that other guy did."
"But I wasn't flaking out, Steven! I was pressured to not go. I… I know that isn't fair to you either, but you know how difficult it is for me sometimes. It's hard for me to say no to people… It just happened with my roommate and it became this whole thing. And then you didn't answer and I really wanted to see Robocop, and then Devon said he'd take me-"
Steven stopped her, "You're fine, Connie, it's my fault for not answering and letting it get out of hand. Let me explain the rest. Then, we had that argument outside of the movie theaters and Liv looked sad so I held her hand. It wasn't like we're dating, so I thought it was fine. But she got the wrong idea and thought I liked her so she made a move while I took her home and kissed me."
Connie looked sad, "Okay. Wow. So it's her fault? That j-"
"No! It wasn't her fault! I led her on! And I didn't stop her when she kissed me, Connie, I kissed back. And I'm sorry. I was just so upset about what happened between us and about Devon and it just happened. It's all my fault. If I didn't act that way, none of this would've happened."
Tears formed in Connie's eyes, "You… Kissed her back? I know I said I didn't want to start dating seriously, but… I thought you cared about me…" Her lip trembled. The waiter came to bring the food to their table only to leave it and awkwardly shuffle away.
Steven's voice lowered, "I do care, Connie. That's why I feel terrible. I just jump to conclusions and that's what I did about that Devon guy. I thought you were… You know… Seeing him and that you didn't tell me."
"Steven, I promise I'd never do that! Why would you think I'd do something like that?"
His eyes lowered. "Well… I just got self-conscious. What do I even have to offer to you. That guy's in university with you and seems WAY cooler than me! You said you didn't want to be exclusive, so I thought you maybe just wanted to keep yourself open…"
Connie faltered. This situation was entirely out of control. What was the main issue here? She took a slow, pensive bite from another chip, trying to understand the whole situation. As she silently mulled over it, Steven stared at the floor. Finally, after what felt like eons, Connie spoke.
"Steven… I just- I feel hurt. I don't think you trust me and I don't we understand what we want, you know?"
"What do you mean? I know exactly what I want! I want you, Connie, I want to marry you!"
"That's what you think you want! How can you want to marry someone that you can't trust to not go off and date another boy without telling you? How can you want to marry me?" Connie stopped herself from continuing. Her point came across loud and clear.
Connie silently slipped out of the booth. "Steven, I'm going to go. I thought I didn't want to be exclusive with you, but my reaction kind of says otherwise. I need time to think about what I want too. You should probably do the same. Bye Steven."
"Connie wait! I know what I want!" Steven begged her to stay but Connie wouldn't hear it. She was already to the door by the time the last word left his mouth. She smiled sadly and gave a small wave before exiting the restaurant. Steven sighed and stared at the untouched food. Grabbing his wallet to pay for the meals, he left with two days' worth of lunch all by himself. Hopping into his car, he let out a sad sigh and began a long drive.
I guess I do have a lot to think about...
I better start now…