Chapter Six: Matcha Latte

It was Monday, June 19th. A typhoon raged outside, making The Coffee Shop's door rattle on its hinges. The wind was howling— air blasting in such high speeds that the rain fell almost horizontally.

Lapis was curled up in the round loveseat near the window, scribbling furiously on her favorite notebook. She had a love-hate relationship with rain. On one hand, listening to its pitter-patter against the roof or a window was bliss— a musical, soothing rhythm. On the other, it always reminded her of something, no, someone— the most wonderful, no, most terrible.

The door slammed open and she jolted upright, her whole body tense and ready for fight or flight. But it was only her dearest friend Steven. He had just barrelled into the cafe, shivering and soaked to the bone despite his umbrella.

Lapis hurriedly rummaged through her things to find a towel, a shirt, anything at all to help him dry off. Someone else beat her to it, however, when a flying towel squarely hit Steven on the face.

"Hey, Ste-man!" said the towel culprit. It was Amethyst, Lapis's roommate. She hopped over to Steven and enthusiastically rubbed the towel all over his hair. "Dude, you look like you fought an entire ocean!"

"Amethyst!" he protested, snatching the towel from her. "I can dry myself, thanks."

"Ooooh, touchy. Bet yer nervous for your date too, huh?"

"Too? " Steven gasped, his previous sour mood evaporating instantly. "Wait. You have a date, too?!"

"Shh! Keep your voice down!" Amethyst hissed. Then she looked around as if to check whether the coast was clear. Which it wasn't, since they were in a coffee shop during the morning rush. "Steven, can you keep a secret?"

"Sure!"

Amethyst gave the whole cafe another furtive once over, and then started whispering into Steven's ear. It must have been something juicy, given his starry-eyed reaction.

"WOW!" Steven shouted, before Amethyst shushed him. He amended with a softer (but still quite loud), "I meant, Wow."

"Don't tell anyone, okay? Not even Pearl." She seemed to think it over, before shaking her head and then grimacing. "Especially not Pearl."

Considering what had happened last time, Lapis couldn't blame her.

"No problemo! Your secret's safe with me." Steven gave Amethyst a thumbs up, zipped his mouth shut, and then performed a series of increasingly complicated gestures that ended with a wink and another thumbs up.

"What was all that?" asked Amethyst.

"I zipped and locked my mouth shut, then buried the key and built a house over where I buried it so that no one will ever find it. Just like how a real Secret Master would."

"Suuuure, Mister Secret Master . C'mere!" She tried to give him a hug, only to jerk away from him almost immediately. "Ugh, you're still soaked! Hold on, I'll get you more towels. And you better order something to warm you up. Try their Matcha Latte. It's delish!"

"Okay!" He turned to the counter. "Sadie, I'll have one of what Amethyst said."

"Your usual, huh?" chirped the barista.

Seeing that Steven had already been well taken care of, Lapis went back to her scribbling. She had been trying to work on her latest school project— a "morp nym," or a meep morp made of words— but it kept refusing to come together all day. All she had written that morning was page after page of junk and more junk.

Frustrated, she tore out a page of her notebook, crumpled it into a tiny ball, and tossed it across the table. That earned her an indignant squawk from Peridot, who had apparently returned to her seat after acquiring the Wi-Fi password. Presumably. Lapis didn't notice when'd she come back. She didn't even know how many hours they'd been in this cafe.

But who could blame her? Time tended to blur in the face of monotony.

Peridot cleared her throat to catch Lapis's attention for an incoming spiel of expounding and exposition. Lapis, being the good friend she was, had simply tuned her out. There were only so many times she could listen about Camp Pining Hearts's deeper lore before she lost her sanity. She liked Buddies better anyway. But in her defence, she had been nodding and grunting assent in all the right places throughout Peridot's rant— just on autopilot— while her attention drifted elsewhere:

Steven, all dried up now, sat at a nearby table. He seemed on edge about something as he talked with his human date-friend. Further inside the cafe, a familiar college nerd was pulling at her peach hair while she stared at her laptop. At the counter, some tall lady with a square afro seemed to be ordering for herself and her two... kids? Grandkids? Behind her stood a roundish man with long wavy hair— Steven's roommate, Greg. He was blowing music on a small metallic rectangle, before Amethyst interrupted him for a chat.

"Ugh! This stupid Wi-Fi isn't working!" yelled Peridot, jolting Lapis out of her thoughts. Peridot slammed the table as she stood up, storming to the drinks counter to yell at the baristas about the Wi-Fi. Again.

As much as she loved Peridot, Lapis felt grateful for the momentary quiet. She really wanted to concentrate on her morp nym, but everything in the universe seemed intent on interrupting her.

"Heya, Lapis!"

'Case in point,' Lapis bitterly thought. 'First Peridot. Now Amethyst.' She rolled her eyes and continued writing, not even bothering to look up at her bothersome roommate.

"Heyyyy there, sweet sugar cakes! How ya likin' this coffee?"

Her pen halted mid-word as one of her eyebrows rose skeptically.

'What is she up to now?' she wondered. She cast a sidelong glance at Amethyst, only to be shocked at what she saw.

Amethyst was doing a cutesy wink.

With finger guns.

Amethyst was doing a cutesy wink with finger guns at Lapis.

Lapis stared at her as if she had grown four more eyes and arms, and an extra mouth— not the most farfetched image to have crossed her mind, but still weird enough to make her left eye twitch.

She let out an exasperated sigh. "Really, Amethyst?"

"Got your attention, didn't it?" Amethyst smirked.

Lapis huffed and turned to a fresh page on her notebook. "What do you want?"

Amethyst sidled up beside Lapis— not quite invading her personal space, but still close enough that Lapis could feel the vibrations of her form.

"Okay, so I know we've been roommates for a while now, but we still don't know each other very well, and... Well, I'd like to fix that. So I was thinking, why don't we hang out? Like, I dunno, watch a movie, or go dancing this weekend, or..."

As Amethyst chattered on, Lapis sighed again. Since the universe kept interrupting her this time around, she might as well give Amethyst her full attention. She put down her pen and shut her notebook with an air of finality.

"Just get to the point," she said bluntly.

"What I'm trying to say is, uh..." Amethyst ran a hand through her hair, as if that would help her piece together what she was trying to say. "Would you, um, well... Would you like to go out with me sometime?"

Lapis stared at her again, but out of genuine surprise this time. "What? Like a date?"

"Sure! I-I mean, unless you're already dating someone else!" said Amethyst, trying very hard not to glance in the direction of the drinks counter. "I mean, I dunno... Are you dating someone else?"

Lapis followed Amethyst's gaze, only to see Peridot ranting at the pink-haired barista.

"Oh, sure. Peridot and I are married," deadpanned Lapis, rolling her eyes. When she saw the crestfallen look on Amethyst's face, however, she back-pedalled. "Sorry, that was a joke."

"Oh," said Amethyst. "So you and her are not...?"

Lapis chuckled. "No."

"Oh." Amethyst chuckled too. "So... Whaddya say, Lapis? Wanna be my Valentine?"

"I don't even know what that word means."

"But you do know what I mean, right?"

Amethyst was doing the finger gun wink again.

Lapis rolled her eyes, but she didn't hide her smile this time.

"No, not really."

"Uhhh..." Amethyst seemed unsure on how to proceed. Shrugging, she plowed on anyway. "Like... dating? You know what dating is, right?"

"Oh. That," said Lapis, her smile fading. "I'm not really good at the whole 'dating' thing, though."

"That's okay. Just think about it? You don't have to answer right away. Heck, you don't even have to just say yes, just because I asked. I'm cool with whatever, as long as your answer is an honest one."

"Okay." Lapis furrowed her eyebrows at the awkward phrasing. But then, she knew Amethyst liked to mangle her grammar sometimes, so she just let it slide and answered, "I'll... think about it."

"Okay, cool," said Amethyst as she got to her feet. "I'll see ya later, okay?" She headed to where Steven's dad was sitting, maybe for another chat. Not that Lapis was paying them much attention.

Something was bothering her, but she couldn't pinpoint what, exactly. Maybe it was something Amethyst said. Or something Peridot said. Maybe it was the coffee shop's ambiance. Maybe it was just the rain.

The rain... it always reminded her of something—

Once, there had been someone who'd made Lapis feel special... for a little while.

That person wasn't important, per se, but they did hold a significant part of her for a length of time. They were strong and intimidating, and yet they'd clung to each other (to her ?) desperately— reshaping themselves until they weren't quite the same person (persons?) they had been before.

Their need to be together had consumed them, more than anything else. And together, they had fought the world, just so they could watch it all burn.

Once upon a time, there was someone who made Lapis feel special... in all the wrong ways.

(Ah, what was her name again?)

Lapis couldn't remember. But that didn't matter; that person was not that important to her.

Probably.

Either way, it was time to move on.

Lapis stood up from her loveseat, smiling.

"Hey, Amethy—"

oOoOo

Authors' Note: Happy Valentines Day! (Or Galentines Day, if you prefer.)