Chapter Five: Chai Tea

It was Monday, June 19th.

Snowflakes fell outside on the sidewalk. It was a beautiful sight, but Amethyst couldn't focus on it. She was too busy focusing on the other beautiful sight in the Wakey-Uppy cafe.

Namely Pearl, Amethyst's roommate.

She was probably working on some important nerd thing that nerds cared about. That was Pearl all right: a totally hopeless nerd. With her hair mussed up in that incredibly sexy windswept look. She stared at her laptop with those big expressive eyes— and damn, were they blue!— with her shoulders tensing up, making her already prominent collarbones all the more noticeable...

It was hot, Amethyst thought. So hot.

And now it was time for Amethyst to take the bold first step and declare her feelings for her roommate. So that they could get together and be happy and make out or whatever.

Assuming Pearl didn't reject her outright and make Amethyst wish she had never been born, dooming Amethyst to a lifetime of deserved loneliness.

That was also a possibility.

Amethyst shook her head. No, she told herself. She could do this. She just had to take charge and act now!

But despite thinking that, she'd been frozen in her seat the entire time she'd been there. She took a breath and swiveled slightly in her seat at the counter as she stared at the other patrons.

Two other college students were seated nearby, talking in raised voices, one with a laptop and another with a spiral notebook. The one with the notebook also had blue hair; she must have been a punk rocker or a weeb or something.

From what she could overhear, they were talking about mopey ex-relationship stuff.

"I'm telling you," the one with glasses said, "you should just forget about that clod Jasper."

She heard the blue-haired girl mumble something in agreement before Amethyst swerved her seat to another direction.

Garnet, one of Amethyst's friends from college, was standing in line, talking with her... sisters? Yeah, sisters. Amethyst thought their names were Ruby and Sapphire, but it was hard to remember.

Amethyst saw Greg, but he was just strumming his guitar. She could probably go over and bother him for a bit—

Stop paying attention to everyone else, Amethyst thought. You're just distracting yourself from what you know you need to do. Stop looking for excuses to not go over to Pearl and talk—

Just then, Steven walked through the front door.

Oh thank god, someone else to talk to instead, Amethyst said, backing down immediately from her own thoughts.

"HEY STEVEN!" Amethyst shouted loudly as Steven walked in.

Steven's eyes were wide as Amethyst yelled. He blinked owlishly. Amethyst's outburst must have caught him more off-guard than she thought. Steven walked over to her.

"Amethyst?" Steven said. "Wha–what are you doing here?"

"Just avoiding class," Amethyst lied. "You?"

"I, um..." Steven scratched the back of his head. "I was gonna meet Connie here."

"Ooooooooooooh," Amethyst said, in the tone of an easily amused audience from a sitcom.

Steven blushed, but didn't respond.

"Oh come on, don't tell me you're nervous?" Amethyst said. "Just tell Connie how you feel. I'm sure everything will work out."

"Yeah... yeah, I'm sure it will," Steven said. He gave a weak smile. "Thanks, Amethyst."

Steven approached the counter and briefly ordered his usual chai tea from Sadie before walking to his table.

Amethyst thought back to her own words, berating herself.

Come on, Amethyst, follow your own advice for once, she thought. She's your roommate. Just... talk frankly.

With that, Amethyst took a breath and strolled over to Pearl's table.

Pearl was so focused on her laptop that it took her a moment to notice Amethyst standing there. Pearl looked up.

Amethyst smiled and tried to pretend her heart wasn't pounding in her chest.

"H-hey, homegirl," Amethyst said.

Pearl didn't have much of a reaction. Her eyes flicked back to the screen.

"Hello Amethyst," Pearl said.

"S'alright if I sit with you?" Amethyst said.

Pearl let out a sigh.

"I'm sorry, Amethyst, but I don't have time to mess around today," Pearl said. "I have to get this essay finished. It's 40% of my entire grade."

"Whoa, 40% That's... that's a lot."

"Yes, thank you. I'm aware."

"Just for a second–"

"Amethyst..."

"It's important!"

Pearl's head snapped back up. Amethyst's eyes remained set on Pearl. She felt a blush on her cheeks as her heartbeat quickened. Pearl seemed to notice as her expression changed to one of concern.

"I... yes, of course," Pearl said. "Sit down."

Amethyst took a breath and sat across from Pearl. Pearl pushed her laptop to one side. At least Amethyst had Pearl's attention now.

"Is everything all right?" Pearl said.

Amethyst bit her lip. She talked to Pearl every day, why was this so hard now?

Pearl frowned.

"Listen, Amethyst, if something's wrong, you can tell me," Pearl said. Her hand reached over and brushed against Amethyst's.

Amethyst abruptly jerked it back, certain her face was red now.

"Y-yeah. Thanks." Amethyst sighed. "Okay. Yeah."

There was an uncomfortable pause.

"Take your time," Pearl said. "Whatever it is, I'm sure—"

"Okay, you're sexy to a ridiculous degree. Let's start there."

Pearl's cheeks flushed a shade of blue.

"P-pardon?" she said.

"Yeah. You are. Like a lot." Amethyst kept talking, all her thoughts coming up like word vomit. "Like it's cool that you can dance and fix stuff and you're super smart but you still look really hot and you're nice to me and I've had this huge crush for like a hundred years or so now and—"

"Whoa, whoa, slow down," Pearl said, putting her hands out. "I..." Pearl clutched her forehead. "Okay, this is... this is a lot to take in."

Pearl took a deep breath.

"Okay. So..." Pearl clasped her hands together. "I'll just be direct."

"Okay," Amethyst said, a sinking feeling in her chest.

"Alright. Amethyst..." Pearl scratched the back of her neck. "I'm very ... sorry, but I don't think of you in quite that same ... fashion."

Amethyst frowned as she felt a horrible empty feeling spread throughout her body.

"Okay," was all Amethyst could say.

Pearl leaned forward, stammering. Beads of sweat dripped down her face.

"I, ah ... It really isn't you so much as it is me," Pearl said.

Amethyst furrowed her brow, her eyes drifting to the floor.

"Yeah," Amethyst said bitterly, "that's totally not just something everyone says."

"Amethyst, no, really. I-I'm just not really interested in any kind of relationship right now," Pearl said. "I mean, we'll always be friends. I just ..."

Pearl trailed off. Amethyst raised an eyebrow and then followed Pearl's gaze... which was firmly on the pink-haired barista behind the counter.

Amethyst clenched her fist.

Oh.

Okay.

She got the picture.

"Pearl!" Amethyst snapped.

Pearl shook her head.

"Huh?"

"You know what, if you don't like me, fine," Amethyst said, "but you don't have to lie and say you're not interested in a relationship when you're making goo-goo eyes at the coffee girl while you're turning me down!"

"What? N-no, I was just..." Pearl's face went pale. "I was just ... thinking."

"Oh, I'll bet you were! About anyone besides me!"

"Amethyst!" Pearl spoke in a hushed tone. "Quiet down—"

"No, I get it! Fine!" Amethyst felt moisture in her eyes. "I'm not you're type! We've known each other long enough, I get it! You want someone strong and big and actually properly made, and I sure ain't any of those!"

Amethyst could feel people in the cafe staring at her, but she didn't care.

"Amethyst, please, people can hear you," Pearl said. "I didn't mean to hurt your feelings. I do care about you—"

"Sure, maybe you do! Just not as much as you care about Rose, or Bismuth, or Garnet, or some rando pink-haired girl you've never spoken to before! THAT DOESN'T FEEL BAD AT ALL, KNOWING YOU'RE THAT FAR DOWN THE TOTEM POLE AFTER ALL WE'VE BEEN THROUGH TOGETHER!"

Pearl blinked.

"Wait, Bismuth, who—"

"And what about Opal, huh?" Amethyst shouted. "That didn't mean anything either, I guess, did it?"

"Amethyst, what are you talking about?" Pearl asked. "You're not making any sense, I—"

"No, Pearl, you're the one not making any sense!" Amethyst shouted, tears rolling down her cheek as she stood up from her chair. "It doesn't make sense that we could go through losing Rose together and I still don't mean that much more to you than a stranger!"

Amethyst stomped towards the door. Pearl stood up, trying to chase after her.

"Amethyst!" Pearl yelled.

Amethyst didn't turn look back, only hazarding a glance at the rest of the cafe. Lapis looked shocked, while Peridot started to get out of her chair like she was going to chase Amethyst too (that's a laugh; she was better off sticking with the other farm girl sitting next to her). Garnet, Ruby, and Sapphire were staring in concern, but said nothing. Steven yelled Amethyst's name, but she didn't respond.

At least Connie looked fine, a serene smile on her face. At least her date was going all right. It wasn't her job to be concerned over a defective Quartz like her.

Pearl ran up to Amethyst and put her hand on her shoulder.

"Amethyst, please—"

Amethyst twisted away and yanked open the door.

"Save it," Amethyst said. "I don't even know why I bothered coming in here to get you guys ..."

"Get us? Wha–?"

Amethyst didn't bother sticking around to answer and stepped out the door.