I do not own Steven Universe; hence the fan-fiction. -sorrowXdarkness

Chapter 12: The Audition

oooOOOooo

When I woke up, I smiled upon seeing his face. They were relaxed and quiet, I could barely feel the air pushing out between his lips. I was usually an early riser, but I had no problem staying in bed a bit longer. It gave me the chance to just stare at him as he continued to sleep. Today was his day off, so if he wanted to, he could sleep the morning away. I wouldn't mind. I shifted a bit, before smiling. He still had his grip on my hand. They were light and easy to detach from. Instead of separating, I got closer and adjusted my head until the only sound I could hear, was his heart.

It felt like his body was cradling mine. It felt nice. I was reminded of a scene, where the small human infant cried its heart out, until her mother came and carried her to bed. She held her firmly and lovingly as she sang her baby a lullaby. His heart sang a continual tune. Am I disturbing his sleep by doing this? Before I had a chance to think about it more thoroughly, I felt his unoccupied arm wrapping around me, adjusting to the curve of my back.

"J-Jamie." I whispered, but quickly cringed upon realizing my mistake. He began to mumble. A sign that he was waking up.

"Hm?"

I couldn't see his face as I had my head on his chest, looking across the room. I didn't want to move. Maybe, if I'm lucky, he would go back to sleep.

"Wha?"

Maybe not. He began to shift, but surprisingly made no gesture to remove me from his body. I could hear the war drums picking up the pace.

"Lapis."

"Yes?" I began to feel the sweats across the side of my face. Anxious as I was, I waited.

"Is this okay with you?"

"Yes."

Jamie let out a sigh. The beating of the drums began to settle down as did mine. "Good."

We stayed I bed all morning talking.

oooOOOooo

"Do you see anybody?" Jamie asked as he and Connie were revising the script one final time before making the copies. Steven was on look-out to see if anyone would come by to audition. The past week was spent in bringing awareness of his play and of the open auditions. With the help of Steven, Connie and Lapis, Jamie passed out flyers to everyone in Beach City. Everyone that resided within the town, were given a flyer and a brief summary of what the play entailed along with directions. Everyone loved the plays that Jamie directed and performed alongside with Steven. They made quite the duo. There was one where even Connie provided her services as she helped behind the stage. Her role since then, was to operate the levers and devices that gave the play its "special effects". As she corrected any misspellings and grammatical errors from Jamie's part, she wore the black shirt with "STAGE MANAGER" with pride. Steven auditioned to every play that Jamie directed. It was no surprise that he was going to do the same this time around, though Jamie would like the rest to audition first. The number of roles presented in this particular play was more than triple the number of roles in his usual plays. That meant that Jamie and Steven, alone, could not do the role of many; even if they were to stretch themselves out to fill the void.

It was highly improbable as deemed by Peridot whom was currently designing some "stage props" to enhance the experience. She was curious in the work that Jamie did to sustain his thirst of pleasure and living so she read a copy of his play. From that, she made some vocal notes of his written play and gave her thoughts on the matter. Jamie could only do so much with the equipment that the mayor provided so Peridot offered her services as well. The technologies given to him were deemed "archaic", at best, which was why she was currently working to upgrade them to outdo the performance of before. Some, of which, she took to the barn to work on with the spare parts that lurked inside. As she worked on that, Steven kept lookout. Even with his best efforts, he did not see anyone on their way to the audition; not yet anyway. Just as he moved his sight on one spot to another, he spotted a figure on the distance. They were walking towards them, and before he knew it, he spotted another a bit further behind. Wait, there was another behind the last until he spotted a group walking.

"Jamie! They're here! I see a bunch of people!" He chimed as he turned to see the director.

"Good." Jamie said with confidence as he and Connie completed the final revision. With that, Connie began to print the copies as the people on the outskirt made their way. "We're practically ready."

"Steven, do you know how many? Right now, we're making 10 copies." Connie said as the papers continued to come out. Once the printer finished printing one copy of the play, Connie and Jamie would take it out and then bind the pages together with staples.

"I think there's like nine of them." He said though found it difficult because he spotted Jenny pushing her twin sister Kiki, which led Kiki to unintentional push someone else. As they got closer, Steven was able to make out who was there aside from the twins. There walking, were Ronaldo, Sadie, Lars, Sadie's mom Barbara, Bucky and Sour Cream. There were actually one less than he thought, which he found was strange. Perhaps it was a simple mistake because everyone were moving about. As they made their way to the stage, Steven began to wonder about Lapis. It was really strange to Steven because she was especially excited.

Ever since she heard about it through Jamie, she secretly began to practice. She read the play like three times. She absolutely loved the play and she really wanted to play the main heroine. Steven and Connie were helping her with her practice: giving her advices, comments, resources.

A week went by and Lapis said that she wanted to surprise Jamie. She told him that she was going to a mission, but would be back by the late evening. What he didn't know, was that her mission was to audition for the main female role of his play. So where was she?

"Alright, now that most of you are here, we can begin." Jamie said as he motioned for Connie to distribute the copies. Once everyone received one, Jamie continued. "Alright, let's start this audition. The first thing we'll do is have Connie give us a brief summary of my play. Without further ado, Connie Maheswaran." Connie stepped up and began to speak. Everyone stood in silence as the stage manager spoke with some sense of authority.

The play was about a woman with whom fell in love with a prince, eventually. The prince had recently lost his mother from an accident. Due to the loss of his wife and beloved queen, the King's health began to dwindle. Eventually, the town too reflected his health. It was speculated by the people that their King would not last another year or two. Something must be done. So an event was formed by the town folks. In the month of May, every woman of marriage age would appear by the lobby of the castle. There, they would try to convince the prince that they were the best choice to marry. This caused a stir around the town folks because of the difficulty and stress placed on the prince who was the judge. Each woman that presented herself to him, spoke of their best attributes. It wasn't until the third day that a young woman living in the outskirt of the town, arrived. She, unlike the rest, was forced to participate. Both of her parents were too ill to work on the land and her older brother suddenly disappeared. This made it very difficult for her and her family as she took the role of a pleasant farmer. Before that, she would work as a teacher in one of the older buildings outside the walls of the town. While working on the land, a few town people spotted her and practically took her from her crops and pushed her through the doors of the building that the prince resided. As she appeared before the prince, and while being looked upon by the other women with scornful eyes, she reluctantly spoke.

She began listing all the bad things about herself and how she could not be the ideal person to marry; mainly so she could return to her crops as quickly as possible. Before her turn, the prince was bored by the second day of listening to each woman listing their best traits. When he heard her listing all the reasons he shouldn't pick her, he became very interested. He listened carefully to every word she spoke and countered them rather easy. He stood up from his throne and asked the woman for her name. She refused, as she was not planning to marry him. That did not stop the prince as he asked her the reason for her refusal. She explained that, as a peasant from outside the walls, she could not hope to match the divinity that emitted from the prince, no matter the efforts. The prince said that she must then perform an act that was "god-like" to prove her own divinity. He told her that she had the next day to think about what her act would be. He also made her promised him that she would do her best.

She knew that she had only one passion in the world, and it was her dancing. As she practiced out her act before performing it to the prince, she failed to noticed the appearance of a woman. It was one of the participant from a noble family with whom felt extremely displeased by what transpired yesterday. As she practiced, something within her appeared. It drove her to push herself further until the sudden urge to win became evident.

When it was time to perform, she danced her heart out. Just as her dance was to come to an end, someone deliberately spilled water on the floor. Upon contact with the slippery liquid, she was on the verge of falling. As she fell, the audience let out a gasp, though her body never dropped to feel the cool ground. The prince rushed though the stage and pulled the woman up to her feet and they began dancing. As they danced, her eyes sparkled as they came to realize the prince and his inner feelings. This jumpstarted the feeling that appeared in her chest as they talked to themselves through the dance. Though she was aware of her feelings, she could not allow the prince to settle with someone as her. The prince insisted that she looked to the audience. Everyone were astonished as they comment how "divine" she was, and how the two felt like they were in a class of their own. The prince spoke as she watched, of how divine she was when they met for the first time and how she refused to see it until now. When they returned to look at each other, the two shared a kiss as the crowd cheered in excitement. The end of the story was reached as the curtain dropped.

"Any questions?" Connie asked as she looked at the people with whom was going to audition for the roles in the play.

"Wow. Jamie, you wrote that?" Kiki asked. Jamie nodded as she embraced him. "And to think, you were some kid that read those boring Shakespearean plays and sonnets." She giggled along with Jamie.

"Of course. Now are you going to audition or what?" He asked.

"I just might." She smiled.

"Do you think they're a couple?" Someone said in a low tone.

Steven and Connie could hear the comment Sadie made. She whispered it, but they were able to hear it without much trouble. Lar shrugged, not really interested in either one of them. Steven and Connie looked at each other sheepishly. They wondered how Lapis would react if she saw them both together like that. Were they always that close to each other? The thought crossed their minds.

"I forget that they're childhood friends." Ronaldo said as he appeared behind them.

"Childhood friends?" "Childhood friends?"

"That's right. They used to hang out all the time. One could easily mistake them as a couple back then. They were that close. Even now, they looked quite the pair."

That did not make them feel any more better.

Both Steven and Connie cringed when they heard a familiar voice. Turning around, they saw Lapis walking toward them.

"I'm sorry I'm late. I'm here to audition too. Is that okay?" Entered a newcomer.

Everyone turned and saw the blue-skin girl. The very same girl that stole the ocean from their precious Beach City only a few months ago. The light ocean breeze blew her dress as she cast her spell in the form of a smile. When she saw Jamie, she gave a quick wave.

"Of course it's okay." Ronaldo said, smiling and blushing. Lapis unintentional enchanted the poor beach blogger with her spell. "None of us has yet to audition."

"Lapis? What are you doing here? Did you finish your mission already?" Jamie asked, rushing toward her and embracing her. He picked her up and twirled her around as she let out series of giggles. It was noted by everyone, including Kiki, who stood where she was, along with Ronaldo as he sharpened is eyes.

"We should really start this audition." Connie insisted, giving off a series of awkward chuckle.

"Oh right." He pulled away, but gave an apologetic smile to Lapis. In return, she gave one filled with understanding. Detaching himself from her, he took his seat in the director's chair and had everyone form a line by the side of the stage; everyone but Kiki went. She, instead, stood next to Jamie. After the first audition with Ronaldo, Lapis discovered that this "Kiki" person had some experience in judging someone's talents too. Alongside with Jamie, she commented on Ronaldo's take.

"Hey Steven..."

Steven looked up. "What's up bob?"

"Who is she and what is her relationship with Jamie?" She gestured with her head. Steven somehow expected this. She said nothing of his nickname of her. Usually she would reply back by saying how her name was "Lapis", finding the name "Bob" distasteful. Now, however, most of her attention were on the two before everyone. They were chatting and laughing, keeping the auditions going smoothly. When one was done, Jamie took some notes down before he called the next one. During that time, that girl added her inputs along with stirring up a separate conversation unrelated to the task on hand.

For some reason, it bothered Lapis as she felt a strange tug on her gem. The smile she once had, slowly became grim and ominous as her eyes became that of fishes.

"Um...that's Kiki. She works at Fish Stew Pizza and she's also a good friend of Jamie's." As he spoke, her eyes began to soften.

"So, they're just friends?"

"Yeah, friends." Steven said, though said nothing more, as they continued to watch both Jamie and Kiki.

oooOOOooo

Omake:

"Hey, I heard you were sick. So being the nice person I am, I decided to come by and visit you." Kiki began, smiling upon seeing his face. Despite the exhaustion, he felt revive upon seeing an old friend. She still kept the style of hair as she did all those years along with that apron.

Jamie answered the door still covered in his blanket. "Thanks, though you didn't have to do that. Won't your father be mad if you skip on your shift?"

"Don't worry about it. I convinced Jenny to take my spot for half an hour."

"No way...how you managed that?" Anyone that knew the twins so well, knew that Jenny was the one to take advantage of her twin; not the other way around.

"Simple. I asked."

"I don't believe you."

"Well, believe it. I wouldn't be here if she didn't say yes." She had her hands beside her hips, leaning forward. Her stance was intended to intimidate Jamie a bit, but Jamie pretended to not be interested and unaffected.

"Fine. I believe you. Thanks for visiting." Opening one of his eyes, he looked at the girl standing there before him. She still had that smile. He also noticed the extrusion of muscles, most likely from delivering pizzas all across town. Although it may be rude, the sudden thought of her beating him in arm-wrestling appeared in the back of his mind.

"You're welcome. Did you eat yet?"

"No, but it's on its way. I'm having it brought here."

"Really? Got yourself a servant or something?"

"No. A roommate actually."

"Oh. Someone I know?"

He could still by the sparkle in her eyes that she was highly interested in knowing. Why? Perhaps it may have something to do with whether the "roommate" was boy or girl. If it was a boy, then there was nothing to worry about. If they turned out to be a girl─ why did it matter?

"Maybe. Her name is Lapis. Lapis Lazuli."

End of Omake

oooOOOooo

End of Chapter 12

Author's Notes: There you have it. Trouble in Paradise? So soon? Let's see how Lapis Lazuli handle the sudden appearance of jealousy as I try to bring out more between her and Jamie as well as Jamie and his friendship with Kiki. -sorrowXdarkness

P.S. I'm really sorry for taking so long. As I mentioned before, I have found writing to become more difficult to do this summer. I found that I require getting into the "groove" to begin writing, and if lost, then the writing ceased. I hope this condition does not last for much longer. I already began the next chapter, so I hope to finish it (including proofread it) for next Sunday. -sorrowXdarkness