Amber waded through the water whilst holding her lover's hand. The sun was high in the sky as waves ran along the shore. Turquoise held Amber's other hand as they went further into the water. Soon enough, the salty blue liquid was up to Amber's knees. She decided this was the perfect spot to hang out, especially when the water was this passive. Steven ran out to the three with a beach ball followed by Peridot and Amethyst. Pearl and Garnet hung out under an umbrella and watched the six friends play together.
The ball was hit from way up high into Turquoise's arms by Amethyst. It bounced off and went over the net next to Steven who hit it right into the air. Amber bounced it to Luca who spiked it right through Peridot's arms. The small green gem groaned and muttered something about height, picking up the beach ball and serving it over the net. Luca hit it over yet again to Amethyst who spiked it at Amber.
"Take that shorty!" the purple gem shouted.
"I will!" Amber said, hitting the beach ball as hard as she could into the air.
Luca spiked it over to Steven, who gently bounced it back over the net. Turquoise bounced it up as high as she could and Amber hit it right over and into Amethyst's grasp.
The purple gem missed the ball and sighed rather loudly. Peridot calmed her down and they continued the game. After they were all tired, they ran to the sand and lay on their towels to dry off. Amethyst joined Garnet and Pearl to talk about whatever they were doing for the rest of the week. Turquoise lay next to Peridot and the two talked about building things. Amber and Luca lay with Steven in between them. He wanted to talk about all kinds of interesting things like how he got Centipeetle to her friends and how he faced his fears as Stevonnie.
Steven was going to have Connie over today to meet Luca, Turquoise, and Amber. The small black-haired girl was shy for a bit, but when she got used to the new group, she was the most outgoing. She ended up eating dinner of spaghetti and meatballs with everyone that night. They did a short karaoke together and shortly afterwards, had s'mores by the fire on the beach. After Connie left, Luca's uncle came back, slightly inebriated. Everyone said goodbye and went over to the caretaker's house to sleep.
The ride home was quiet; Luca drove with Amber in the front seat while his uncle slept next to Turquoise, leaning against her shoulder. Amber grabbed Luca's hand and smiled as if she was telling him thanks for the day. The yellow moon began to set behind the mountains as the car made its way up to the spare house. Waves could be heard crashing along the cliffs when Amber and Luca got out of the vehicle. Turquoise helped the caretaker into the house and into their bed. Amber and Luca crawled into bed and instantly fell asleep in each other's arms.
In the morning, Amber could smell something wonderful coming from the kitchen. She woke Luca up and the two went to the location of the delicious smell. The caretaker was baking French toast on challah bread alongside Turquoise, who was making a smoothie. Amber and Luca sat down at the kitchen table and were served their breakfasts within a few minutes. Everything was so quiet, but it was okay, silence could be nice sometimes. After breakfast, Amber suggested going to the aquarium.
"We can look at fish there, right?" the tan gem asked, smiling.
"Yeah," Luca said, "Do you guys want to come?"
"Not really," the uncle said, "I'm still feeling a bit under the weather. But you two can still go."
"Okay," Amber said, "I hope you feel better."
"Thanks, Amber," the caretaker smiled, "Here is two hundred dollars, don't lose it."
"Two hundred?!" Amber said, almost excitedly, "Isn't that a lot?"
"It is only a bit of money for me," the caretaker said, "Go on, have fun."
Luca and Amber got themselves ready and said goodbye to the caretaker. Amber hopped in the car and looked to Luca.
"Why was the caretaker sick?" Amber asked.
"He probably had too much to drink," Luca said, slowly.
"You mean of alcohol?" Amber questioned, "The last time I had that was a long time ago. That stuff tastes bad."
"Yeah, but a lot of adults like to drink it whenever they are stressed or are with friends," Luca said, "He was with Greg and those two apparently used to drink together all the time."
"Oh," Amber said, "Look! There it is!"
"There what is?" Luca asked.
"The sign for the Arts Festival on Friday!" Amber said, "We can take your uncle and Turquoise there in a couple days."
"That sounds nice," Luca smiled, "We should ask them first though."
"Yeah," Amber said.
Luca continued to drive along the road and the two got a good view of the beach. Tomorrow, Steven was going to come and visit them, but today was a day void of visits, except for the aquarium.
After an hour and a half of driving, they had finally reached the promised place. The aquarium was gigantic and contained more fish than Amber or Luca had ever seen in one area before. Purple jellyfish caught Amber's eye and she placed her fingers on the glass. Luca smiled as he watched his lover enjoy herself. They went to an exhibit where Amber could pet manta rays. She loved running her fingers on their strangely soft skin. The tan gem giggled as Luca brought her some manta ray food. After she fed the rays, she wanted to go see the dolphins and the seals. She watched in wonder as they swam around in their tanks.
Amber saw a sign that said that there were sharks and she was immediately interested. The tan gem ran over to the exhibit and watched as gigantic fish with sharp teeth darted from the light into the shadows. One shark that was larger than the rest appeared to be chasing the smaller sharks around. Amber frowned and muttered something about how it was a big bully. Luca offered to get food for it, but the tan gem would rather feed the smaller sharks.
"What if I distracted it while you gave the food to the smaller guys?" Luca asked his lover.
"That could work," she sighed, "Just look at the little cuties."
"Okay, I will go distract it," Luca smiled, kissing Amber's forehead.
Her lover ran to the other side of the shark tank and threw some fish food into the cold water. Amber watched as the big shark swam to the other side and dumped her food into the water. The smaller sharks gobbled up the food within seconds while the larger shark took its time.
Amber giggled and ran to her lover, hugging and thanking him. He laughed as he wrapped his arms around her. The two left the aquarium with smiles on their faces and a feeling of accomplishment as they had visited all of the exhibits. They decided to go to dinner at a restaurant that overlooked the sea. The wind swayed as they were served a meal of seafood. After they finished, the two made their way to the beach. Amber formed her swimsuit and ran into the moonlit water. Luca chased after her into the waves after taking off his pants and shirt.
They played around for several minutes as the full moon began to set. Amber's lips met Luca's several times as they got closer and closer together.
"I love you so much," Amber said, between kisses.
"I love you too, Amber," Luca said.
He attempted to take her swimsuit off but realized that it was fused to her body. The two laughed at his failure and noticed that it was getting fairly late. To Luca, whenever Amber was around, time seemed to fly away much more quickly. He helped his lover into the car after she formed her usual outfit. They began to drive and within thirty minutes, the spare house was in sight. An angry caretaker and Turquoise were waiting outside along the steps.
With hands on his hips, the uncle spoke, "What were you doing? It's two o' clock in the morning."
"We were caught up at a restaurant, it took them a lot of time to make the food," Amber said, "Sorry for being so late."
"No, it's not okay," the caretaker said angrily, "Did you know that you two smell like sex?"
Amber and Luca looked to each other, "We didn't have sex, Amber and I went to the beach and played around for a bit."
"In the dark?" the caretaker asked, "Luca you are only seventeen and she is thousands of years old!"
"B-But we didn't have sex at all!" Amber said.
"Shut up," the uncle said abruptly, realizing what he had done, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean it."
Amber frowned and looked to him but couldn't bear it. She took off running as the caretaker dropped his outstretched hand in regret.
Luca took off after her as the uncle just stared. Turquoise shoved the caretaker and communicated to him that he must be the one to make this right. He nodded and started to chase after the tan gem who had made his life so much better than it had been. Within minutes, Luca had reached where Amber sat, but he knew that his uncle had to make it right so he stood by her without speaking. When the caretaker reached the two with Turquoise by his side, he lightly touched the tan gem's shoulder.
"I'm sorry," the caretaker said, "I just worried that you had sex. If you do, and get pregnant then you will most likely die if you give birth."
Amber remained silent as she struggled to look away. She honestly loved her family and found it hard to dislike them.
Tears rolled down her cheeks, "It's okay, I just got strangely emotional when you told me to be quiet. Your tone of voice scared me."
"I know, but Amber, if you have sex, you could disappear," the caretaker said, wiping his now flowing tears from his cheeks, "It happened to Rose Quartz…"
"Yes, but I promise that I won't disappear," Amber said, standing up and grabbing the caretaker's hands, "It will never happen, I swear. But you need to just let us be "human kids" and enjoy our lives. Have a little trust in us, and Turquoise, if we did anything, you would be the first that I told."
Turquoise blushed and nodded as the caretaker wrapped his arms around Amber. When they broke apart, they all walked home together, holding hands. The stars were especially beautiful that early morning. Amber could see Homeworld and plenty of galaxies that she told the three family members about. She loved to explain things to others; maybe she could become a teacher after she finished high school with Luca. The tan gem knew that she could provide for Luca and her children if she got a job.
Everyone practically fell into their beds, as they were all exhausted. Amber and Luca continued to chat late into the morning.
"Garnet told me how to form a womb and a uterus so I can give birth," Amber said, "I also have several other organs necessary for reproduction."
"Wow, that's amazing, but if you get stabbed… then what?" Luca questioned.
"I might be in trouble," Amber said, "But my body is still made of light so at least I will have that much safety."
"Okay," Luca said, "I will be sure to get stronger and be able to take care of you."
"Thanks, honey," Amber said, kissing her lover's forehead.
He kissed her back, "How sweet you are."
The two fell asleep underneath the covers as soon as they closed their eyes. The day had been great even though it had also been hectic.
