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A Risk and a Realisation

She could try pawning it.
Or selling it online.
Or maybe she could get it set into a piece of specially customised jewellery.

She couldn't stop looking at it.
Every now and then, she would steal a peek at it- briefly slipping it from her jean's pocket and peering at it in hands cupped as delicately as though she was holding a butterfly.

It sparkled elegantly in certain lights, twinkled coyly in others and if one of its sides managed to catch the orange, iridescent glow given off by the mini-oven, it would give off such a powerful gleam that Sadie could not believe that it wasn't emanating from the diamond's very core.

"Order up. Table Eight."
At the sound of Lars' familiar midday-slump-drawl, his co-worker immediately slipped the gem fragment back into hiding. Although her fellow cashier had initially branded the precious stone as a "worthless beach pebble", she still didn't want him seeing it.
He could say what he wanted to, she decided; it was definitely a real diamond.

She hadn't showed it to her mom either when she'd stopped by with the owner's mail.
She hadn't even told her mom about Kimberlite.
Maybe it was because she knew that regardless of the worth of the stone to Kimberlite, it was still far too much for her to accept as a gift from a practical stranger. Maybe it was because her mother would tell her this. Maybe it was because her mom would convince her to give the stone back to Kimberlite, (after giving her a lecture on why she should have just called the life guards).
That would, in turn, would mean that she had to see the woman again.

Sadie picked up the tray and brought it over to the waiting couple. "Hey there folks, sorry to keep you waiting…"
No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't banish the images of the gem sitting in that very spot, looking up at her with that bizarre, curious smile.

The very scene alone- imagined or real- filled her with a kind of palpitating panic coupled with intrigue that she just couldn't name or place.

It wasn't that she didn't want to see Kimberlite again.
There was something about her that she really liked and she had enjoyed chatting with her, (oddly aggressive interruptions from Peridot aside).
But at the same time, there was something about the stranger that made her nervous too. It was as though Sadie was afraid that anything she might say would suddenly cause that twinkle of curiosity would vanish from her eyes and that absolutely mesmerising smile would disappear and Kimberlite would cease to want anything to do with her.

Supposing that Kimberlite wanted something to do with her in the first place.

She politely accepted a five dollar tip from one half of the couple and decided to give them their space, clearing the table with haste and backing away in retreat to check out the coffee filters.
She watched with admiringly bashful but faintly envious eyes as one of the couple took their laughing date's hand and guided it to their lips.

"Probably here for the Valentine's Beach Ball this weekend," Sadie mused with a small smile, leaning back on the beverages counter. Normally, she'd be contentedly, (or tiredly), contemplating the extra hours she'd be getting to work and the extra business that the Big Doughnut would be getting but again, her mental rhythms were completely invaded.

Thinking about the Valentine's Ball was, in turn, making her think about what Jenny Pizza had said.

She dared to steal a glance at Lars from where she stood.
Her co-worker was simply staring at the cash register with eyes that were as glazed over as one of the frosted doughnuts displayed in the counter beneath him.
Was it awful beyond awful that she still desperately wanted him to ask her to be his date?

She didn't know what made Jenny think that Lars was somehow beneath her.
If anything, the only thing stopping her from asking him to the ball was that she didn't feel as though she was in his league at all.

Sadie took the little diamond from her pocket once more, toying with it between her fingertips before letting it settle back into her cupped palms.
"Maybe I'm being way too hard on myself," she thought. "Lars and I have been friends for a long time…we've had some pretty crazy close moments…we lived on a desert island together…we've kissed…is it so bad that I wanna be more than friends with him? Heck, maybe he wants it too. Maybe he's the one who's too shy to ask me out…"

The little diamond winked up at her, sparkling in the faint glow given off by the coffee machine's power switch.

"Maybe I will ask him out," Sadie murmured aloud, closing her fingers over the little stone. "Hey, if someone thinks I'm good enough at my job to tip me a diamond, I must be doing something right."

Gathering her courage and steeling her nerves, she slipped the diamond back into her breast-pocket and walked to where Lars was sitting, still glaring at complete nothingness.

Well, at least he wasn't busy.

"H-Hey…uh, Lars?"

Something mildly terrifying dawned on her for the first time.
When approaching her co-worker, the kind of tippling anxiety she felt was not unlike the same kind of anxiety she felt when she thought about meeting Kimberlite again.

The young man continued to stare into space, not bothering to look at his co-worker as he responded:
"What?"

The difference between Lars and Kimberlite was that she had known the young man for years and he tended to talk to her like a nuisance. Despite only having known her for less than two hours, the gem, on the other hand, spoke to her like she was the most important person in the room.

Lars' voice couldn't have been more bored or sullen if someone had paid him a diamond to make it so.

"Uh…I was just wondering if, uh…well, look, if you don't want to, that's fine and all but maybe…"

"I am not cleaning out the coffee filters, Sade. We've been through this. I have sensitive skin. Doctor's orders. Remember?"

Sadie cringed faintly at the not-so-distant memory of a shabbily written doctor's note that had been passed on to their manager.
A note that he had pressured her into forging a signature on because the real doctor's signature had "accidentally rubbed off."

"No, no, it's not like that," she said quickly, really hoping to get the question out of her mouth before she lost her nerve again. "I was actually just going to ask you about the Valentine's Beach party thing."

Now Lars actually looked at her, with a kind of intensity that surprised her.
"Actually, now that you bring it up, there is something I want to ask you."

He smiled widely, Sadie's own lips starting to tremble a little.

"Y-Yeah? Yeah. Go right ahead!"

"Well about the whole ball thing?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you think that Kiki would go with me?"

"I'd lo-!" Sadie had to swallow back her own enthusiasm as the reality of Lars' response slowly hit her; the weight of each word hit her slowly and painfully. "Ahem, I mean…Kiki?"

"Yeah, Kiki Pizza. Y'know, Jenny's sister? Do you think she'd go with me? Jenny said she was going with someone else when I asked her last night." He scoffed. "Probably Sour Cream. She just wants access to the DJ booth…I'm pretty sure that she'd be all over me by midnight anyway." Lars cocked an eyebrow. "So, what do you think?"

He would never change. Why did she think he would ever change?
Why did she keep wishing that he would change for her?
Why did she keep wishing she could change for him?

"Hellooo? Earth to Sadie!"

The blonde woman blinked, shaking her head briefly as she tried to bring her mind back to the world of the living.
"Huh, what?"

"Kiki Pizza. Should I ask her out?" Lars drawled at her slowly, as though speaking to the child. He looked her directly in the eye and tutted, grimacing. "Geez, Sadie, try to listen to me for once. Sometimes it's like you don't even care enough to pay attention…"

"Ask her or don't ask her. It's up to you," she cut across him abruptly, turning away as she willed her voice not to crack. "I'm no-…I'm not good with that sort of thing. You know that." She sighed, placing her hand over her phone in her pocket. "Can you watch the tables for a second? I have to make a phone call."

As she made her way to the backroom, she could hear Lars' already shouting after her.
He was saying something about not taking longer than five minutes but Sadie could not care less.

As soon as she was safely in the background, she took her phone into her shaking-with-rage hands.

Chewing the inside of her mouth and trying to keep her annoyed screams swallowed, she leaned back against a stack of old doughnut boxes.

"Don't let him get to you," she told herself. "Don't get angry. He's not worth it…"

Whispering this mantra as she dialled her desired number, Sadie lifted a hand to trace the small, jagged outlines of the diamond resting in her shirt pocket.
She had made her mind up.

She was going to meet up with Kimberlite again.

"…to give her back the diamond," she murmured to herself, her voice thinning out to silence as the dial tone on the phone began to chirrup. "Hey, Steven! I hate to bother you but I was just wondering if I could talk to one of the gems…she just gave me something a little earlier this morning and I wanted to return it…ah, no…Kimberlite…she left the Big Doughnut with Peridot…no, Kimberlite…wait, so she's not one of your mom's friends?"

News

Skidding slightly in his flipflops and his hot-dog duffle bag lightly bouncing against his back as he ran, Steven didn't lose his pace as he continued his sprint all the way to the barn.
By the time he reached the coarse, wooden door where the chalk-board was propped, he was breathing heavily- his face tinted the same colour as his t-shirt.

"Woah, don't choke on your tongue, little man," chided Amethyst playfully, clapping him on the back as she exited the barn. "What's got you in such a rush? I thought today was gaming day…"

"We've finished our progress on the drill for today, Steven," Pearl told him, slipping from thedappled shade in the purple gem's wake and stooping to aid Steven in standing up straight. "But it was very thoughtful of you to come down to us."

"Need…to…see…Peridot…" Steven managed to say, still trying to regain his full lung capacity as he looked around. Sure enough, the bright green gem was tinkering with some varied appliances near the far fence. "Peridot!"

Despite Pearl insisting that he sit down for a moment, the half-gem scrambled over to the engineer.

"Steven," she greeted him upon approach, her eyes surveying him from behind her visor. "You look…moist."

"Peridot!" he spluttered. "Were you at the Big Doughnut this morning?"

"Steven, I do not eat. For what possible purpose could I have frequented your human nourishment establishment…"

"And you weren't with another gem called Kimberlite?"

"Again, a little reminder to you, I really try to limit my explorations of your human urban environment to as litt-…" She dropped the hammer she had been holding, her eyes suddenly widening to twice their normal size. "D-Did you say Kimberlite?!"

"…what?"
Pearl had come to flank Steven's left side, Amethyst eagerly in tow.

"Who or what the heck's a Kimberlite?" the lilac-skinned gem demanded to know, crossing her arms.

"Are you serious?!" Peridot shrieked. "In all your years of life, you've never once heard of the Kimberlite?!"

"Should I have?" Amethyst retorted lazily with a shrug.

"But what's she doing here?" Pearl blurted out, clasping her hands in front of her chest as her voice escalated in volume. "Why would they risk sending her here? Unless…"

"…they plan on coming here too," Peridot wheedled, her knees starting to shake. "It's happening! Oh my Stars, it's happening. Yellow Diamond is coming to crush me!"

"Hey! Guys! What's the big deal about this gem?" Steven interjected, having suddenly regained his voice. "You're talking like she's some kind of monster but Sadie said she was really friendly and was really worried about her…"

"If Kimberlite is here on Earth, it can't be a coincidence that whoever brought her landed here."

The foursome all simultaneously jumped slightly at Garnet's unannounced appearance.

"If her coming heralds what we fear, then we need to make finding her a priority," the tall, demure gem went on.

"Will someone please explain to me what's going on?" Amethyst groaned. "If this Kimberlite chick is so bad than why have I never heard of her?"

"She's not supposed to be outside of Homeworld," Pearl said quickly. "The Diamond Authority would never sanction her leaving unless one of them was coming with her. They wouldn't risk it for any other reason."

"Meaning athat if she's here, the Diamonds can't be far after," whimpered Peridot, still staring into space with a horrified expression.

Steven looked up at Garnet for assurance. "Are we really sure she's all that bad? I mean…Sadie's pretty good at reading people…and Kimberlite didn't try to hurt her when she had the chance…"

Garnet sighed heavily, looking down sideways at the young boy, her concerned gaze masked by the gleam of her visor palette. "Steven, while Kimberlite herself may not be a bad gem…no good can come of her being here on Earth…"

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