Hello! Here's the new chapter, I should be able to post every week after I come back in around two weeks.
But anyways, Enjoy! :)


Chapter 2 - Preparations

Pearl rolled out of the bed with a loud groan, her head was dully pounding and willed her to crawl out of the comfy shelter of the blanket and pillows. 'How do I have a headache? I barely drank anything!' The tall girl rubbed her eyes and placed a cool hand onto her forehead, 'god, since when did I become such a light-weight?' She flopped back down defeatedly and looked over to her mobile, abandoned on the small bedside table. A small scrunched up receipt beside it, she could faintly see the numbers elegantly written with blue ink. 'Oh, that happened…'

Memories of last nights drama sprang into the tall girl's mind and she groaned yet again. The news about Rose, the party, Lapis… It all seemed so unrealistic that it happened in one day.

'As much as I want to, I can't just stay here forever.' Pearl slowly sat up and checked her calendar. Her job interview wasn't until until tomorrow, so she really didn't have anything left to do other than clean.

Or, she supposed, that all she wanted to do was clean.

Cleaning was a strange stress-reliever for someone to have, yet there she is, a weirdo that liked to clean. Taking some dusters, Pearl promptly evicted several spiders of their homey, little webs and after a moment of repeating her mantra about the room, she ventured to the living-room.

'No list or letter this time,' She noted and opened some black bags with a grin, either this was going to be very easy or very difficult. Packages and boxes meant very little to Pearl, in most instances they were discarded and recycled, so like most sane person Pearl attacked the cardboard packages of random utensils and equipment head on whilst making sure nothing was inside. She left some of the bigger boxes as there could be some use to them when she inevitably had to put somethings into 'storage' and began picking up the food containers, such as cereal and pasta.

In a way, it was very exciting going through this much garbage (minus the dirt and bugs). She never knew what she would find in the mess and discovering an actual functioning object became like a treasure hunt.

There was the second bicycle wheel (Pearl still had to find out if Amethyst actually owned a bike) 'perhaps I'll even find a third one.', a baseball bat with small initials etched into the hilt, it was of their team. Pearl chuckled, they didn't even play baseball all that much.

She continued parting the mess when she came across something she wished she never found, it was a small black case that looked to be able to attach onto a belt, the outside was covered in scratches and scuffs, her name was etched at the bottom corner and beside that an engraving of a Rose.

Pearl shyly swallowed and opened the case.

There is was… A black hilt and a long sharp blade. It may not be like one of her fencing swords and it certainly couldn't beat a combat knife. But it was hers, a small pocketknife that she was ashamed to say she used multiple times.

The fencers hand shook and quickly she shoved the knife back into it's decorative case and threw it into one of Amethyst's largest trash piles. 'Never again.' She sighed.

She kept her mind occupied and began ferociously digging again, a small voice at the back of her head whispered more distressing ideas and kept making her remember the darkest times in her life. 'Why does Amethyst even have it? I'm certain I gave it to…' Pearl paused, 'Rose…'

She sighed and looked down at her feet, her chest grew heavy yet again and her throat hurt as if she was only one event away from bursting into tears. But something stood out, something rectangular in the pile and as the tall girl took it and wiped the cover covered in dust, Pearl discovered a picture album and she sighed. The deep royal purple hardcover, tinged with fading gold etchings made Pearl feel warm in her chest, replacing the tight, constricted feeling, a small smile plastered her face and she opened the book after finding a relatively stable bar-stool to sit on.

Inside there was (surprisingly) many pictures that they had taken or their family had taken, all of them labeled by anyone other than Amethyst. The first picture was of Ruby and Sapphire holding a baby Garnet, Pearl grinned, she remembered everyone criticising their young age at the time, but they never cared.

Pearl promptly paled when she realised that she was now just as old as them in that picture.

"Oh god I'm old…" She muttered and looked at the other photos.

There they all where… The 'Crystal Gems' a bunch of orphaned children of various ages smiling happily in a large group photo. Some faces she never recognised, but most faces shown she knew one way or another. Pearl spotted herself in the back, she was only four years old in that photo, she remembered the pride she had back then of being second eldest. Beside her was a little girl with curly hair in a small pink dress… Rose, the eldest of them all.

Pearl sniffed and she felt warm tears roll down her cheeks. She quickly wiped them away with the back of her hand and flipped the page.

As the years went on, they all found a nice home or were returned to their family like Amethyst. She had so many sisters it was unbelievable. But Pearl remained, even when Rose found a home.

The dancer concluded that she had to visit Ruby and Sapphire as some point and thank them again, they really were family.

Pearl wiped away some more tears and beamed brightly. She was about to close the book when some back pages made themselves known, tentatively she flicked to the end and looked at the more recent photos.

She chuckled when she seen all of them back together, 'God those were awkward years.' She gently touched the laminated photos and remembered Ruby taking this photo.

They were as the teens now would say, the edgiest of edge lords… Or at least a few of them were…

Pearl rolled her eyes when she recognised herself as one such teen. A leather jacket with rolled up sleeves and a frown face on her shirt, she looked like she just had a beating or had tumbled town a cliff. But Amethyst was no better. She chuckled but slowly she found herself to be frowning.

She really wasn't a nice person back then… Constantly beating people up to make herself feel stronger and constantly losing. Pearl sighed, this particular photo was just before everything went wrong and she got that knife. Nobody won against her ever since.

But something was wrong with the album, several photos seemed to be missing, some even looked ripped out and Pearl couldn't begin to remember what the photos were. 'Ruby and Sapphire were the ones to take most of the photo's, perhaps they have some?' Pearl hummed, it was unlikely, 'Maybe some of the others took the photo's.'

Snapping the book shut. Pearl believed that she had slacked off a little too long and returned back to clearing the room.

However this time it wasn't another book that stopped her, but an unhappy gasp from her room-mate she had nearly forgotten about.

"PEARL!" Her voice made her jump and Pearl instantly turned to see Amethyst march up to her. "What are you doing?! Some of this is really good stuff!"

"Oh please," Pearl scoffed, "none of this stuff is good Amethyst!"

"What would you know?!" The lilac girl huffed and she opened one of the black bags again, messily dropping the scraps of fabric that Pearl had to endure through without calling a biohazard unit.

"I know that this isn't normal!" Pearl irately replied, "Amethyst we both live here! This!" Pearl spread her arms wide and looked round dramatically, "This isn't stuff! People don't keep this!" Amethyst went silent and with a frown kept looking through her belongings, "Garnet moved out a few weeks before I moved in, I know that it wouldn't have been like this when she lived here."

"Just shut up!" Amethyst snapped and she glared at Pearl, "What would you know?!" she repeated, "you left everything! Abandoned us and just gave up!"

"A-Amethyst I-!" Pearl tried, her voice much softer and looked at her sympathetically,

"Just!" Amethyst eyes focused on the album in Pearl's grasp and the anger seemed to melt away, being replaced with sadness, she huffed and kicked a rag on the floor, "just leave it…" She sighed sadly and walked away.

Pearl sighed and put the book down, like always she ran away and left the flat and her problems behind.

The sun was relentlessly beaming down on Beach City, people were either at the beach sunbathing or were sheltering in the shadows and acting as if the sun was the bringer of the end of worlds. Pearl rushed to the one area that she knew she would be alone, a small secluded cove that she and Rose visited frequently when they wanted to be together.

She jumped over a small fence with a long and graceful swing of her legs and carefully made her way down a hill before reaching a small beach hidden by the cliff, she took off her slip on shoes and waded through some of the salt water before she finally seen the small ledge.

Pearl hopped onto it and sat down, she smiled sadly when she seen the etching on the wall. An attempt at carving out a Rose, it looked more like a mess, with jagged lines all over the place.

She traced it and remembered when she done this…

It was a late night and they had snuck out the house, they stayed here to watch the sea and look at the stars. Pearl smirked, that's what they told themselves anyway because if she remembered correctly, they done a lot more than just stargaze. Pearl remembered cutting herself accidentally with the knife as she carved the rock, Rose always had some sort of bandage with her.

The taller girl sighed and pulled out her phone, Garnet had to know about this. 'If she managed to control Amethyst before, perhaps she'll help me.'

Tapping on her name, Pearl brought the phone up to her ear and waited for it to pick up. Eventually the dull ringing was replaced with a voice.

"Garnet." The woman spoke, "Amethyst is bothering you."

"What? How did you-?"

"Lucky guess." Pearl breathlessly chuckled,

"I don't know what to do, the house is driving me insane and any attempts to clean it is always reversed somehow by Amethyst." Pearl leaned back and cradled the phone closer, "I need some help…"

Garnet hummed, "I'll talk to her…"

"Oh thank you-"

"But just know that you're part of the problem," Garnet cut her off, "you need to talk to her inevitably about this and not just argue about it."

"She's not in any mood to talk…" Pearl grumbled and bit her lip,

"She'll come around." Garnet simply stated, "why don't you go around town, meet some one new… Perhaps call someone?" Pearl raised an eyebrow, "See you later Pearl." She then hung up.

There was no way that Pearl was going to be visiting or meeting anyone at the moment. She lay back onto the stone and relaxed. Closing her eyes, she listened to the waves and felt the nice breeze gently ruffle the blouse she wore.

Pearl could almost imagine smelling a Rose perfume.

She felt some tears well in her eyes, but she made no attempts to wipe them away. They had done so much together, she shared so many memories, so many 'firsts'. Like the time they took a trip together and went ice-skating or had discovered a field of wild strawberries.

'I can't call them firsts anymore…' Pearl shuddered, 'more like lasts now…'

Pearl covered her face with her arm and sighed, she had to forget about Rose. They were nothing now, she's probably galavanting around the country with that Greg. Pearl cringed, what on earth did the shabby looking guy like him have that Pearl didn't?

"Why do I ask myself that?" Pearl grumbled, "she wasn't gay. She was never gay! That's the end of it!"

'Maybe she was Bi, but that brief look of confusion whenever we kissed…' She groaned again, 'Why do I always fall for the straight girl?'

She jumped at that thought, when had she ever-? 'Oh… Right…' Pearl looked solemnly at her mobile, 'Lapis…'

Lapis paced anxiously, to and fro in front of Peridot, clearing and then blocking the TV. But there was no Camp Pining Hearts or anything displayed for that matter, in fact, the only show Peridot was watching was Lapis.

"Seriously, you've been like that for an hour now." Peridot bit into her toast and drank some of her coffee, Lapis grumbled in response. "I mean how important is this Earl anyway?"

"He saved me Peri!" Lapis exclaimed suddenly and then returned to her quiet and thoughtful pacing.

"Yeah, but you don't need to make a big deal out of it…" Peridot's voice gradually grew weaker and Lapis slowly turned and stared at her, the girl in green wordlessly understood and she took a large gulp of her drink.

"Ugh, why am I getting so worked up about this?" Lapis groaned, "but seriously, what if he doesn't like me? What if he DOES ditch me? He walked away from me before!"

"So what? Lapis-!" Peridot took a deep breath and sharply exhaled, "It's just a guy! A. Guy. It's not the end of the world."

"Yeah, but what if Jasper shows up?" Lapis paused and she froze. She quickly turned to Peridot on her heels, "What if she shows up? I'm not ready to face her again! Not after yesterday!" Her hands went to her head and she felt herself shake slightly.

"Okay, okay, calm down!" Peridot placed her mug onto the coffee table and raised her hand if not a little authoritatively. "Why would Jasper show up?"

"To finish off what she started…" Lapis said darkly and looked to her bare feet on the floor.

Peridot awkwardly cleared her throat. Lapis noticed her look at the clock on the wall before she stood up and nearly ran away into the kitchen. Lapis calmed herself down, taking a deep breath. Peridot was trying, but Jasper was an awkward conversation that always lead to some sort awkward silence between them. It almost made Lapis angry at how they regard Jasper as an embarrassing secret, something to be mentioned once or twice and not to talk about under any circumstances.

"Time for us to head out!" Peridot exclaimed, 'Just forget about them for now… I'll deal with them later.' Lapis told herself.

"Wait, you have an early shift too?" Lapis followed her and seen peridot put on an employee's shirt over her vest. It was bright red and it screamed 'fast-food' to anyone within a mile radius.

"Yes, like most bosses, mine is truly despicable." Peridot grumbled and yawned, most likely due to her late night and the horror film, "he threatens to fire me just for fun!"

"What a tyrant." Lapis commented.

"A tyrant! Unlike Earl!" Peridot added tiredly, "if you're uncomfortable you don't have to go… We'll still do the marathon though."

Lapis gave her another blank look but Peridot was already leaving out the door.

"Don't forget to lock the door Lazuli!" she said and walked away,

"Yeah, Bye!" Lapis called out to her. She huffed, it wouldn't be long till she had to leave for work too.

Now in her new-found solitude, Lapis pulled out her silenced phone. She winced at the amount of missed phone calls and texts from Jasper. It was an avalanche of remarks that slowly got more and more threatening. Small things like 'I'm sorry' snowballed to death threats if she ever was to speak of what happened again, or seen Earl again.

She shuddered when Jasper mentioned what would happen if she went to the beach later in the evening. Jasper sickeningly described everything that she would do to her, everything that would happen to Peridot and how she'll track down 'the boy' and carve words into him, reminding him never to mess with her.

Lapis snapped her eyes shut and deleted Jasper yet again as a contact, blocking her for extra measure. She knew that it was only a temporary solution and that sooner or later Jasper would be back texting her with more intensity and fury.

The girl sighed and grabbed her bag whilst she slipped on her sandals. 'Might as well go to work early' she concluded and headed out.

Lapis's work place wasn't the best, but the cafe paid decently and it was rather boring most days. Despite her boss being a grouch (quite like herself) and her co-workers keeping away from her she was content there.

Especially when she got the most tips.

Today was one of those days were only the regulars came in, it wouldn't have been too bad in any other cafe. But it became a problem when only three people were regulars.

Less customers meant less money earned, that was something Lapis couldn't afford when her room-mate was eating away at the electricity bill. But the water bill, well she had to blame only herself for that.

She glanced at the door when she heard the small bell ring on the entrance, a tall dark woman that Lapis recognised entered the establishment and sat at one of the tables. Lapis looked round, she was the only waitress in today as all the others were away on either 'sick leave' or just weren't in the state.

Taking her notepad she approached the new customer and put on a (well practised) pleasant smile.

"Hello, what can I get you?" Lapis asked,

"Hm," the woman glanced at the desserts through her shades, "I'll have a latte, sweet. Also this cheesecake here."

Lapis glanced at the menu and wrote down the order.

"It'll be on the way shortly." Lapis walked away and dropped her smile.

There wasn't even anyone at the till.

She grumbled and began doing the work herself, silently thankful that the order was so simple. Anything more elaborate and she would have had a massive headache

Lapis returned and delicately put the cup and plate down onto the woman's table. The woman thanked her with a small smile.

"You're Peridots friend," the woman stated and took a tiny sip of her coffee, Lapis glanced round, the regulars had already left and they were the only ones there. She tutted and leaned on the seat across from the customer,

"Yes, who're you?" She asked,

"Garnet," The woman in shades responded, "It's a slow day." She said it like it was a definite fact.

"Trying to get by." Lapis crossed her arms, "You hang about Amethyst right?" Garnet simply nodded, she then pointed at the empty seat. Lapis huffed and sat down, it beat standing about doing nothing.

They just stared awkwardly at each other, 'what is it with the awkward silences around me?'

"You look like there's something bothering you." Garnet took another sip of her coffee,

Lapis wriggled somewhat uncomfortably on the seat, but inevitably sighed in defeat when the woman's shades never left her.

"Why? You going to give advice?"

"Only if you talk about it," Garnet smiled and Lapis sighed,

"There's this guy…" Lapis began with a grumble, "I feel like I really owe him because…" she huffed, "I just want to replay him. But I hardly know him and I've never been on a date with… anyone before."

"Well…" Garnet drank some of her coffee and hummed, "Normally people aren't this anxious to someone they don't care about." Lapis grew flustered, "you're worried about what he'll think of you, probably because you think that you're so different to how you were when you met him."

Lapis just blankly looked at her, a blush on her cheeks. Was Garnet some sort of mind reader? She tried looking around her, as if there was something that was telling her this private information. But there wasn't anything or anyone around them.

"How do you know that?" Lapis asked,

"A hunch," Garnet smiled, "but, did you ever consider that he is just as nervous to meet you?"

"What?" Lapis sat up straighter,

"Think about it, he's obviously nervous, perhaps even wondering if you will call him." Garnet took a sip of her coffee.

Lapis looked down to her hands on the table.

"But, I think it'll go well," Garnet concluded, "I recommend going to the beach, something's happening there. I think it's a party."

Lapis smiled and Garnet smiled knowingly back, "Thanks."

Garnet was about to reply when she suddenly got a call on her phone.

"Sorry," She said, "i have to take this."

Lapis nodded and she stood up from the table,

"Garnet." She heard her once she tapped the screen. She briefly heard something mentioning Amethyst but Lapis wasn't interested in sticking around and listening to someone's conversation.

Making the most of her time, Lapis believed that it was a good idea to sort the till and the coffee stock. As to cure her idleness and boredom.

After creating a masterpiece with the shelves, she seen Garnet return to her with the empty cup and the cake, still untouched. Yet ready to pay.

"I have to go." She placed them onto the counter, giving Lapis some generous change.

"But you haven't touched your cake," Lapis replied, "and you've paid too much!"

"You keep the cake." Garnet said, "plus this is your tip."

"I can't-"

"Sure you can, as a gift." She fixed her shades, "and there's no one here to stop you."

Lapis smiled and took the plate. She watched Garnet leave the cafe and then Lapis promptly packaged the slice and put some of the tip into the tip jar, her boss wouldn't know a thing.

As she waited for her shift to end, Lapis swore that Garnet knew something. It was just a small thought in her mind but it ate away at her. In a way she had wished that she had asked sooner if she knew who this Earl was. It certainly sounded as if she knew him when she could just 'guess' that much stuff about Lapis.

As Lapis closed up the cafe and left with the dessert slice in tow, she took out her phone and brought up Earl's number. What looked so ominous before now had reverted into just a simple name.

When Lapis got to the house she dropped the cake onto a plate and left it out for Peridot. She never felt like eating anything and Lapis felt that Peridot deserved it after managing to put up with her all this time.

With a determined huff, Lapis pressed the call button and brought the phone expectantly to her ear.

Pearl grumbled when she heard her phone ring, she wondered if it was Garnet telling her that she spoke with Amethyst but she doubted it. She had stayed in the small cove for several hours she imagined, just thinking and trying to remember good memories, only to remember the bad ones.

She reached for her phone in her pocket and glanced at the screen.

The dancer flinched as the screen displayed the name 'Lapis', she tried to calm herself down. 'Shit, she thinks I'm a guy!' She groaned.

But time was running out, the phone wouldn't keep ringing forever and Pearl certainly knew that if she never answered there and then she never will call her. 'Maybe that's a good thing.' Pearl then cursed as the phone kept ringing.

As the melodic tune was about to restart again, Pearl coughed and cleared her throat. With all her willpower she hit the answer button and put the phone to her ear.

"Hello?" She tried to make her voice sound as gruff and low as she could but Pearl face palmed when she realised she sounded like a pubescent teen.

"Hello? Um…" She sounded nervous, that made Pearl nervous more than it should have, "I want to ask you if you would like to go to a beach party. I mean, like on a date."

'A date?!' All the alarms went off in Pearl's mind,

"But I mean, we can just go as friends! If you're not comfortable or anything…" As reassuring as Lapis was trying to be it did not in fact help Pearl's peculiar situation.

She cursed herself for being so awkward.

"I'll think about it," she replied, not as cooly and more so douche that she never intended.

"Oh, uh…" Lapis went a little quiet, "if you want to go with me then I'll meet you by the bar later tonight at like ten. So if you want to then I'll be there… Waiting… Okay, um… Bye!" She hung up before Pearl could say anything.

"Whyyyyy?" Pearl flopped back onto the ledge. A date with Lapis sounded nice, but it wasn't so nice when she was toying with her feelings by masquerading a man. 'This will only go downhill from here.' Pearl took a deep breath.

Lapis sounded so nervous, perhaps she was really looking forward to going out on this date. Now it's going to be ruined by Pearl not showing up just because she doesn't like parties, she groaned again, Lapis doesn't deserve that.

"One date." Pearl grumbled, "and I won't fall for her."

After recollecting herself from that drama, Pearl had returned back to Amethysts flat and stopped herself from knocking. She entered slowly and carefully closed the door behind her, there was something unusual when she looked around. It was as if some of the piles had shrunk, there was no more wrappers or paper littering the floor, some of the boxes seemed to have disappeared too.

She walked into the living room and her eyes widened when she seen a whole old and dusty couch had been uncovered and there were several black bags hidden behind it. Amethyst and Garnet were looking at her from the couch, a mixture of emotions on Amethyst's face.

"We talked," Garnet hummed,

"Yeah," Amethyst murmured, "I'm uh, sorry, about what happened." The short girl folded her arms and looked down at the floor dejectedly.

"We've come to an agreement," Garnet explained, fixing her shades slightly before turning to Amethyst and supportingly putting a hand on her knee.

"I'll throw away the junk, like wrappers and whatever box you don't like and have a 'disagreement' with." Amethyst huffed, "but, you can't throw away anything important to me."

Pearl smiled brightly, "Oh Amethyst, I was never going to throw away anything I knew you liked!" She walked closer to them, "I just wanted to get rid of the… Well… Stuff people don't usually keep!"

Amethyst nodded understandably.

"And I love what you've done! We've actually got a place to sit now!" Pearl added and Amethyst blushed slightly, Pearl placed her hands in front of her and clasped them a little nervously, "why don't we do it together? That way we can clean out the house and… Talk…"

Amethyst looked up at her and chuckled, "Yeah sure, I need to make sure you don't throw away a collectable!"

"Haha," Pearl tried to be serious but also ended up chuckling.

"Pearl." Garnet tapped the couch and Pearl silently sat between them, she felt Garnet supportively place a hand onto her knee. "About Rose-"

"No." Pearl shook her head, "Not now."

"But-" Garnet tried, but Pearl silenced her again, 'I can't do this right now…'

"I have something to tell you two." She crossed her legs and leaned back into the couch,

"What is it?" Amethyst asked, "did you destroy something again?"

"What? When have I ever-?" Pearl stopped herself, and cleared her throat, "no, I have not. It's something else and it's equally disastrous."

"This is getting interesting," Garnet remarked,

"Come on! Just tell us already!" Amethyst grinned impatiently,

"I'm going on a date." She sighed,

"What!?" Amethyst grinned and Garnet knowingly smiled, "with who?!"

"L-Lapis," Pearl replied,

"Congrats," Garnet said,

"Oh, Peri's room-mate! You just can't keep away from the bad girls can you Pearlie?" Amethyst laughed,

"Shush!" Pearl blushed, "but there's a problem."

"Uh oh," Garnet instinctively frowned,

"She thinks I'm a man…"

There was a resounding silence before Amethyst burst into hysterical laughter, even Garnet the stoic pillar, laughed. Pearl felt herself sink deeper into the couch and covered her bright red face with her hands.

Amethyst slapped her knees and crumpled to the floor, Garnet had to wipe her eyes from under her shades and Pearl continued to internally die.

"Oh my god!" Amethyst breathed in, "I can't breath! haha!"

"I can guess how it happened," Garnet chuckled,

"Look it was a misunderstanding! Now she thinks that my name's 'Earl' and she asked me out!" Pearl burst but then slowly flopped onto the couch, "just let me die in peace now…"

"Okay… Haha! Okay calming down now!" Amethyst sniffed and she sat up on the floor. Pearl groaned in misery. "How the hell did she think you were a guy? You're like the girly one out of all of us!"

"Not. Girly. Enough." Pearl grumbled, "It was just after I left the bar. I… Met… Her. And she gave me her number."

They looked at her a little strangely, Amethyst looked like she would burst out laughing at any moment.

"Now I'm going on a date with her, I have to go, she's so looking forward to it!" Pearl sighed in defeat, "I have to go. I can't just leave her…"

Amethyst and Garnet looked at each other before they returned their gaze on Pearl, it was a silent agreement that did not go un-noticed by the tall girl.

"We'll help you." Garnet folded her arms and Amethyst nodded, "Amethyst." She looked over at the girl. "Clothes."

"On it." She rushed out of the room and into her own, leaving Pearl alone with Garnet.

"Pearl, you will go and pretend to be Earl again," Garnet explained, putting a hand onto her shoulder, "but you HAVE to tell her the truth today, at least before anything gets serious."

Pearl nodded her head quickly, a spark of determination had ignited in her. They looked over when Amethyst came in with some clothes in her arms, Pearl had to hold back her frown and tried not to cringe as Amethyst forced her into a black loose shirt and baggy jeans that she only grabbed because it was on sale.

"Are we done?" Pearl huffed as she put her signature red cap, the one that cause all this mess, on.

"Not sounding like that you're not," Amethyst replied, "you're a man aren't you?"

Pearl grumbled and she cleared her throat, "Are we done?" She asked again with a deeper voice,

Amethyst looked hopeful, but…

"We're going to have to practice that before you leave."

Tonight was going to be a long one.

Yet again she was pacing.

Back and Forth.

Blocking and Unblocking the switched off TV.

Peridot watched yet again, this time as she enjoyed the sweetness of the cheese cake.

"This… This is a side of you I've never seen…" Peridot raised a fork at her but Lapis scoffed and kept pacing. "I don't know why you're so worried, you got Garnet's blessing! Garnet's! Blessing!"

"Sorry, just nerves I guess…" Lapis continued,

"Okay, something's going on in that brain of yours," Peridot set the cake down, "you can trust me!"

Lapis looked down at her and then sat down beside her, "this is going to sound stupid."

"I'm used to dealing with Amethyst. I KNOW stupid." Peridot scoffed,

"I don't know if I like him," Lapis sighed,

Peridot paused, "you're right, that is pretty stupid…"

"Peridot!"

"Sorry! But didn't you say it yourself that this was just to repay him?"

"Yeah, but I just can't stop thinking about it ever since Garnet mentioned my feelings about him!" Lapis muttered, "and Jaspers been texting me, telling me to keep away from the beach!-"

"JASPER's texting you?!" Peridot paled, "Why didn't you say something!"

"So you didn't have to worry!"

"Thank you!" Peridot huffed, "but I would appreciate it if you told me. Jasper is my problem now too." Lapis sighed, "I mean that in a kinda good way? W-what I'm saying is, you don't need to go through this alone!"

Lapis looked up from the hands on her lap and back at Peridot, who was staring directly ahead at the half-finished cheesecake.

"And so what if Earl doesn't show up? We can still come back home and watch Camp Pining Hearts, I mean no one's relationship is worse than Paulette's!" Peridot grumbled, "and Jasper… But she's not funny to mock!"

Lapis laughed at that.

That was something that Peridot had, the ability to be hilarious in any given situation.

"So let's get going, it's almost ten." Peridot huffed and stood up, but she looked down to the coffee table anti-climactically and sat down again, picking the cake up "right after I finish this cake."

Lapis grinned and rolled her eyes.

When they finally made it out the door and made their way to the bar Lapis's nerves went haywire. She felt like she was being watched from somewhere, like someone was following her. She gripped her shirt's sleeve, 'I can't let Jasper get under my skin.'

Peridot had noticed this sudden motion and looked at her in disbelief.

"After my inspirational speech and you're still on edge?!" Peridot whimpered,

"I'll calm down once I see him." She face palmed after she said that, " I did NOT mean that to be in any romantic sense what-so-ever."

"Ri~ight, sure you didn't" Peridot grinned.

Lapis pouted and turned away from Peridot if a slight huff. She seen the fire from the party on the Beach to her Left, just a few streets down and then Lapis glanced to the Bar to her right, she suddenly paused. 'I need to control myself.'

"Are you serious?" Peridot raised an eyebrow,

"What? No! Just… You go on ahead to the Beach. If I'm not there in ten then you can just go home." Lapis said,

"You sure?"

"Yes," Lapis smiled, they gave themselves a high-five as they walked by each other.

"Knock him dead Lapis! But not literally!" Peridot laughed,

"I will!" Lapis smirked.

But what Lapis believed to be a stroke of genius turned to be one of the worst decisions she had ever made. As she waited outside the busy bar she swore that the feeling that there was someone watching her, following her even, got stronger.

She hoped that Earl would show up soon.

Pearl sighs as she walks to the bar, why did she ever agree to this? What possessed her to do this? She had practiced for a solid hour with Amethyst after Garnet left, a solid hour! That's the most dedicated thing that Amethyst has ever done in her life!

She scoffs as Amethyst gave her a 'meh, pass.' once her voice grew hoarse. She had judged it to have just enough grit and deep enough to sound like a young man. Emphasis on the young.

Pearl, or 'Earl' as she was known as at the moment, pulled out her phone. She felt like punching herself when she realised that she forgot to take off her phone case and change the background, 'too late to change it.' She huffs and sent Lapis a text.

It was a simple "on my way," but it still seemed extremely wrong in every context.

As she kept walking, she realised how differently people looked at her at night. Women would hurriedly return homes armed with keys between their fingers and men would shy away trying to act normal and yet, only end up looking more suspicious.

She wondered when it was that people got scared to go out at night in Beach City, 'it never used to be like this.'

Pearl sighed when she seen the bar from a distance and she cleared her throat. There standing out front was the same girl she saved yesterday, looking into her phone and glancing around at her surroundings a little nervously.

Was this really the Lapis Amethyst told her about? She was always described as threatening and unreasonable… But the girl she seen was as normal as everyone around her.

The tall disguised girl looked around Lapis, she seen someone looking at her from the darkness of the bench across from the bar.

They did not look friendly.

She fixed her red cap slightly and walked up to her.

"Lapis," she called, testing her new voice. The girl looked at her in surprise and slight fear, but it softened and she released a sigh of relief, she walked up to her slowly and Pearl glanced at the figure by the bench, they had lost interest.

"Wow, you actually showed up!" Lapis smirked and folded her arms, "you're late!"

Pearl frowned, 'no I'm not…' But played along, "fashionably late."

Lapis chuckled, "I'm joking, you're right on time. So, you ready?"

Pearl nodded and they continued walking to the beach.

'I will not fall for her.' Pearl told herself.

I will not fall for her.'