The car came to a slow stop, parking beside a line of shops downtown. There weren't too many people out and about on the sidewalk or in the stores. The sun was shining brightly above in contrast to the rainstorm the city got hit with last night. All traces of the rain were gone, the sidewalk dry and not a wet spot to be seen.
Lapis gnawed on her lower lip as her fingers tapped on the steering wheel at a staccato tempo. Glancing over to the blonde in the passenger seat, she felt a bit of worry twist in her gut. "I could drive you all the way home, it won't be a problem," she offered and then, after a moment of thought, "I could call your mom, too, say that we're running a bit late to give you more time away from her." It was painfully clear that Peridot didn't want to have to deal with her mom at all today and Lapis wanted to do what she could to help her out here.
The girl shifted uneasily in her chair and shook her head, "No… that'll only make things so much worse," she said. "Here is fine, um, thank you."
The artist offered a weak smile as she reached over to take a hold of Peridots hand in her own, "Okay, got it. Just text me when you can so I know everything's okay," she said, rubbing her thumb over the back of Peridot's hand in a soothing manner, "it's going to be okay. Don't worry about it."
"Easy for you to say," Peridot said with a sardonic smile, "You've never met her before. She sounded pissed."
"You're going to be okay," Lapis pressed again, looking her right in the eyes. "Just, come here, get over here," she took hold of Peridot by the shoulder, leaning over the middle piece of the car as she drew Peridot closer. She pressed her forehead against Peridots for a moment and then leaned closer to give her a gentle kiss on her lips.
Peridot melted into the soft kiss, bringing her hands up to bury themselves in Lapis' blue hair as she pressed against the woman's lips in return, eyes fluttering closed. Lapis could taste her, she tasted like-amazing, cherry lip balm and a hint of mint toothpaste from this morning. She moved her hand to cup the back of Peridot's neck, her mouth complying gently against Peridot's own trembling lips. Just like their first, they could feel the electricity rushing through them. She didn't want the kiss to ever end.
The kiss felt like an eternity but lasted only a few seconds before Lapis drew back with a kind smile on her face.
"Go on, get out of here," she said, giving Peridot a playful shove on her shoulder, "Whatever happens when you get home, don't let it get to you and just call me later, okay?"
Peridot nodded slowly, leaning in to kiss her once more. Lapis complied easily, happily even. "Try not to drink anymore when you get home, okay?" Lapis said as she pulled away, grinning a little, "I don't want to have to find you drunk again, I much rather prefer you sober."
The younger of them blushed brightly, "Trust me. No more alcohol," she said, shaking her head as she spoke, "I'm lucky the headache and hangover aren't too bad."
"You lucked out, I wish I was that lucky my first time drinking."
Peridot offered a little smile, sneaking one last kiss before she grabbed her bag and hopped out of the car. "I'll talk to you later!" she yelled, hoisting her bag over her shoulder and waving Lapis goodbye.
The teacher waited a few seconds, waving back, blowing a kiss before she drove away.
Waiting for a little while, Peridot stayed on the sidewalk until Lapis was out of sight. When she saw the car turn the corner, she heaved a sigh. Her energy from the kiss gone rather quickly now that Lapis wasn't there anymore. She adjusted her grip on her bag as she turned on the sidewalk and looked the way opposite of her way home.
She could just walk somewhere else. Maybe avoid meeting with her mother altogether. No… no like she told Lapis, it would only make things worse. Her mother was likely going to be in a poor mood, to begin with, if she made her wait any longer before coming home, her mother could very well fly into a fury of some kind.
The risks greatly outweighed the rewards when her mother was involved.
She could feel a shudder up her spine just thinking of how angry her mother could be. She was lucky enough to only see her mother angry, truly angry, just a few number of times. It just, it wasn't a risk she wanted to take, it wasn't something she wanted to face.
With trepidation and fear deeply seeded in her heart, Peridot began the walk home.
It didn't take very long. Twenty minutes at most before Peridot made it home. She could see her mother's fancy and a sleek black car parked right in the driveway. Her fear grew as she tried not to give in to her instinct to just flee. Slipping in through the door, she left her shoes at the doorway and quietly made her way into her own home. Though at the moment it felt like an execution room rather than a home now that mother dearest was home.
She padded in quietly, hoping that maybe her mother had gone out and the car was just there to deceive her. But that was proven wrong when Peridot stepped into the living room and was met with sharp yellow eyes. Her mother's face was upturned into a frown, brows narrowed down with clear displeasure on her face. She was seated on the couch, still dressed in one of her business outfits and her legs crossed as she held a glass of wine in one of her hands.
It wasn't even noon yet, and yet her mother had already cracked open a bottle of wine. Who knew how much of it she had already drunk. That was always the first sign that things were not going to be good for Peridot.
Her mother was the exact opposite of Peridot. She was tall, standing well over six feet tall, with broad shoulders and a sharp jaw. Her hair was short, but unlike Peridot's own short mess of hair, her's was kept in control, tamed and perfected. Her eyes were always cold, always angry or disinterested. It was sometimes hard to believe that they were related. Diane Diamante; Yellow Diamond was a hard person, firm and strong while Peridot was soft, weak and malleable. Traits that had gotten her no end of criticism and verbal lashings from her mother.
"Peridot," Diane Diamante-Olivine greeted. Her voice was cold, an authoritative, distant tone like she was talking to some distasteful employee she was eager to be rid of. It lacked any sort of warmth one would expect a mother to hold after seeing her only daughter again after months of being apart. It showed just how little Peridot likely meant to Diane in that one word and tone.
It sent shivers up Peridots spine.
The girl in question quietly stepped forward, further into the living room like she was walking into a lion's den. Moving like an obedient, timid puppy with its tail tucked between its legs. Her head was ducked down, staring at the floor and unable to look her mother in the face lest whatever assurance she had would crumble. She could feel shame rushing through her, not that she knew what it was she was ashamed of. Just that she knew that she must have done something wrong that her mother expected her to feel shame for.
"Chin up!" the tall woman barked and Peridot felt herself flinch at the raised voice. "I've told you time and time again about that horrid posture of yours! Straighten your back and don't you dare look at the ground when I'm talking to you," she ordered.
She did as she told, but looking up at her mother's face, the clear dislike on her expression, Peridot felt something awful twisting in her gut. Dread and guilt. Dread for what was bound to be coming and guilt for whatever it was that she had done wrong. She swallowed, her hands shaking just a little.
Her mother did not break eye contact as she took her wine glass and gave herself a long sip of the dark red liquid. She waited for a second, and then another. It felt like she was sizing Peridot up, weighing her worth and her everything as she stared at her own daughter. After what felt like eons, she reached over with her free hand to a small pile of papers stacked nicely beside her. She picked them up and held them out to the small blond. Holding them between her fingertips lightly as though she were holding something filthy that she wanted to touch as little as possible.
"Mind explaining to me what this is all about?"
Her question was cold, but Peridot could just fear the traces of anger in her voice. She carefully stepped closer to take the papers from her mother, to read them over as Diane drank from her glass of wine.
They were papers from the school.
More specifically. They were Peridot's grades and notes from some of her teachers.
She could feel in that instant her heart drop and her own death sentence being written out as she saw what some of her teachers had said and what her grades were. She could feel her mother staring at her with judging eyes as the papers shook in her hands. Her grades were supposed to be A's all the time. Every grade had to be an A. Her mother would accept nothing less from Peridot, she barely accepted straight A's.
Peridot's grades had dropped. Quite a bit.
She had several B's, a couple of C's and just one lone A. There were copies of her quiz and test scores as well, and she had gotten mostly C's on them as of late. Her teachers had left notes about how Peridot had been spacing out quite a lot recently, was clearly not paying attention in her classes. Little observations they'd made of her drop in performance.
No wonder her mother was so displeased today.
"I hope you have an explanation for this," Yellow Diamond said slowly, "and it had better be a good one. I had to drive all the way back home because of this, wasted time and money that you've caused."
Peridot ducked her head down but quickly looked back up at her mother could snap at her again, "I… um, there's been a l-lot," she began, stammering in her nervous state.
Her mother cut her off again with a pointed look, "Quit that stuttering of yours! You're a grown woman, not a babbling child!"
She barely held back a yelp in response, furiously nodding her head as she swallowed. "There's been a lot of, I've been overwhelmed a lot this semester," she said. It wasn't a lie, but not quite true either. "Classes are getting harder and I was having trouble staying afloat with a lot that's happening. That's why I was studying with a friend last night."
Her mother stared at her, taking a sip of her wine before standing up. She easily towered over Peridot, and the way she looked down on her made Peridot feel even smaller than she already was.
"Your recent behavior is unacceptable," she said slowly. "I will not have an idiot for a daughter, you know this." the words cut through Peridot and she allowed herself to look at the ground, guilt, and shame growing stronger in her. Her mother watched her for a few seconds before she continued on talking, "Since you've become incapable of managing your own schedule and handling school on your own, I'm having my assistant stay here and keep you in line until your grades come back up and your behavior improves."
Peridot looked up at that, confusion rushing through her, "I… what? Your assistant?" she asked her slowly.
Yellow Diamond nodded and began walking away to the kitchen, to put her wine glass in the sink no doubt, or perhaps to refill it. "Yes. She will be here shortly, she had business back in Empire City to take care of. I'm giving her a paid leave of absence while she babysits you," she explained, Peridot following her on her heels, "She will be reporting back to me if you do anything… displeasing. So you are to be on your best behavior."
Her mother dumped the glass into the sink and brushed past Peridot as she went to retrieve her coat, "I have a company to run so I'll be off. I want you to bring your grades back to A's before this term is over. You understand?" She said and as she slipped her heels back on, she lingered at the door, "Oh, and one more thing. That friend of yours… Bobby, was it?" she asked.
Peridot perked up at that, "The one I was with last night?" she asked her, "Um… what about her?"
"I don't want you spending time with her. Or that Amethyst girl either. They'll only get in the way of your studies and they're not worth your time anyway. I'd advise you to cut your ties with them."
With that, the door slammed shut and Peridot was alone in her home once again.
She could feel her heart racing like she had just run a marathon. Her body felt cold, it was shaking with the adrenaline and fear that always resulted when she had these brief meetings with her mother. She wanted to laugh, her mother had only spoken to her for five minutes and then she was going back to work. Taking a deep breath, she moved to the living room and collapsed onto the couch.
That was… terrifying for her.
Rolling over, she held out her phone and opened up her apps until she found her contacts. A few clicks later and she'd brought up Lapis' name. She hesitated at the call button and settled on texting as she brought it up and quickly typed up a short message.
(Peridot): Meeting with the mother is done. I'm alive. Somehow.
She watched her phone and it only took a minute before the text bubble popped up and shortly after Lapis' reply was in there as well.
(Lapis): How'd it go? Are you okay?
The concern that she had, it brought a smile to Peridot's face. Yeah, it was fine if her mother treated her so distantly, so harshly. At least she had Lapis, right? She could feel butterflies in her stomach as she thought of the woman.
(Peridot): I'm alive
(Peridot): Mother wasn't too pleased with my grades. I've a babysitter now.
Just thinking of that left a bad taste in her mouth. She'd never even met this woman who was her moms new assistant. All she knew of her was what Diane had told her when bragging about the girl. All she could think of what this woman was like was that she was bound to be a miniature version of Yellow Diamond.
(Lapis): Yikes. Well, don't worry about your grades, you're still plenty smart
(Peridot): You sure know how to sweet talk a girl, Laz
(Lapis): It's an art
Peridot laughed a little as she held the phone to her chest. She could feel her earlier fear and anxiety from just minutes ago after talking with her mother easing away. She felt calmer now that she was talking to Lapis. The artist always had that effect on her. She was so sweet. Peridot really was lucky, wasn't she?
She took her phone again and started typing up a reply, trying to think of something witty and smooth to bring to Lapis, but was distracted by a knock on the front door. Frowning, she looked over to the door, if that was her mother's assistant, then that was pretty fast.
(Peridot): BRB someone's at the door
She slipped her phone back into her pocket and got off the couch. Making her way to the doorway, she hesitated as she touched the knob. Maybe she could pretend no one was home and avoid dealing with this assistant altogether?
No, she would just report it back to her mother, and then she'd have Yellow Diamond breaking down the door.
There wasn't really any way out of this, was there? Feeling dread bubbling up in the pit of her stomach, she slowly opened the door to the woman on the other side. "Hello, how can I help you?" she said, trying to be polite as she greeted the woman.
The one who was on the other side of the door, she was younger than Lapis by maybe two or three years by the looks of it. She was tall like Pearl and had a similar nose to her as well, though her skin was slightly darker. Her bright blonde hair was styled in an updo and she had a kind of smile that showed all her pearly white teeth.
"Hello! It's nice to meet you, you must be Peridot Diamante, right?" the woman held out her hand, her smile far too chipper for a first meeting. Peridot didn't have the guts to correct her that she didn't like to go by Diamante, and preferred 'Olivine'. "My name is Marigold, I'm your mother's assistant, and I'll be helping you out until your grades are up again."
Peridot awkwardly took hold of her hand, "Um, hello, it's nice to meet you."
Authors Note: The Yellows have arrived. Yellow Diamond has won Best Mom award and Yellow Pearl makes her first apperance.
As I said a while back on my Tumblr. I'm just going to focus on this fic and Society's Broken So Grab Some Glue for a while, so hate to say it but don't expect too many updates from Homeworlds Police Department or We'll Burn it All Down until one of these is finished. Feel free to check out that fic if you're interested in a Lapis centric (Lapidot shipped) supernatural murder mystery.