Rock on

Chapter 16

Peridot POV:

As we climbed out of the taxi, I struggled, leaning against the taxi before Lapis thanked the driver. I decided to start moving towards the front door of Lapis' house. She shortly followed behind me, holding my waist for extra support. Of course, my mind shifted to how she held me every now and then. It wasn't an uncomfortable feeling; it was more soothing than anything else. Lapis helped me unlock the door and guided me inside, situating me on the couch. I held my stomach as I grunted, biting my lip from the sting of pain lingering in my body. "Okay, okay, just... just take it easy," Lapis said as she kneeled down to my level on the couch. I looked into her blue, ocean-like eyes, concern evident on her expression, but I couldn't help but smile at her. Lapis noticed this, she sighed in return, now knowing I would be alright left alone for a moment. She rushed over to the fridge and picked out a frozen pack of peas. I guessed she wanted to put it on my heavily bruised eye.

As I watched Lapis get out the ice pack, I felt a slight wet object sniffing my foot. It was an adorable corgi pup, sniffing me frantically with her moist nose. "Who's this girl?" I said, trying my best to get my strength to pick up the pup. Lapis heard my question, turning around quickly. "Oh yeah, this is Pumpkin. You haven't met her yet. I got her yesterday," Lapis said softly, a smile lingering on her face as she saw the pup smothering me with licks. Giggles escaped my mouth as I softly tried to push away Pumpkin from my face. "Okay, that's enough," I said with a smile as I placed the pup on the ground next to my feet. Lapis didn't hesitate to take my moment of silence to waste, and sat next to me gently. She slowly turned my way, placing the ice pack on my eye. And I let her; her face was concentrated, and her brows were furrowed.

Before I could blink, I felt a sharp pain on the tip of my nose. Lapis had flicked me right on the nose with an agitated expression. "What was that for, you clod?!" I said, immediately pulling away from her presence to comfort my nose. "That's for scaring the crap out of me!" she protested. I looked at her in confusion, rubbing my nose to calm its sting. "Do you know how worried I was back there?!" Her hands balled up into a fist. My eyes softened; I knew such a sight would scare anyone, but I never meant it to turn into a fight. "I'm sorry you had to see that, Lazuli," I said, trying to use a type of apologetic tactic to comfort her. "Why were you guys fighting in the first place?" Lapis said, placing the frozen peas over my eye once again.

Oh no, I forgot she didn't know why I was so mad at Jasper, but I couldn't tell her why; she might freak out or feel insecure. "Well uhm, it's nothing big..." I lied. I'm not good at lying; I never was, and Lapis could see it. She lifted her brow, wanting a different answer. I sighed. I couldn't help it; I had to tell her. She definitely deserves to know the truth. "Back at the bar. You were really uhm, drunk, and Jasper tried to take advantage of that. She wanted to take you to the back and..." I stopped myself; I couldn't tell her the rest, but I believed she already knew, taking the indication of her shock. Her eyes were wide, and she had stopped patting the ice pack on my eye. "That... that really happened?" she said in a shaky tone. "I'm afraid so," I said, rubbing my arm and looking down. "And that's why you guys were fighting," Lapis said, now looking down as well. "Well, it was never my intention to start the fight. I just wanted to confront her and hear her say she would never do anything like that to my friends, especially you, Lazuli," I said, my eyes darting, trying my best to explain the situation I was in back at the mall.

Lapis looked back up in my direction, her eyes slightly filled with sorrow. "Thank you," Lapis said simply with a smile. She didn't need to say anything; I would have understood, but that was enough for me. I gave a smile in return. "Of course," I said, tilting my head and sliding my hand over hers gently. I didn't realize that what I might have done could make her feel uncomfortable, but once I saw her eyes darting down towards my hand, I pulled it away awkwardly. Lapis' face was bright red, and so was mine. "So, uhm... thanks for the ice pack; the bruises already feel a lot better," I said, trying to change our attention away from what had just happened.

Lapis shook her head, looking like she had just snapped out of a trance. "Oh, I'm glad they're feeling better," Lapis said quickly. "You know, you're really brave to go and stand up to Jasper," Lapis said, standing up to put away the ice. "If I had a few gadgets with me at that time, I could have taken her down," I said, mumbling under my breath, looking to the side. As I looked down, I saw Pumpkin sound asleep on my feet. Cute. I decided to take out my phone from my back pocket and texted Amethyst.

You: Hey Amethyst, I need a favor. Please take Garnet with you to the "Red Temple Mall." I need you guys to take my car back to my house; you can't miss it. Something happened, and I am unable to do so myself.

Immediately Amethyst replied.

Amethyst: Why? What happened, dude? You okay?

Amethyst had asked, my brain deciding to stick to the topic.

You: I am okay. I'll tell you more about it when I'm home.

I decided to switch off my phone and put it back into my pocket. I turned to look out of the side window; clouds were darkening and moving closer to one another. "Looks like rain," I heard a voice from behind me. Lapis had two mugs in each of her hands; she placed one mug on a coaster in front of me. It looked like hot chocolate with 3 marshmallows floating peacefully on top. She took her place next to me and took a sip out of her mug. I decided to do the same, taking a sip, but leaving brown droplets that formed to look like a mustache resting on my upper lip. Lapis spotted this and snort-laughed softly. I was confused, not quite knowing why she was laughing, but smiled back nonetheless. Her laugh always made me feel comforted. As Lapis died down her laughter, she pointed to the top of her lip, indicating that there was something on mine.

I realized that the brown droplets of the hot chocolate were still there, so I wiped them off with my sleeve as quickly as possible, looking in the other direction in embarrassment. "Listen, uh, do you want to spend the night here?" Lapis said softly, giving me a faint smile. My head darted back to meet her gaze, my face quite frankly surprised. "S-sure, I wouldn't mind," I said enthusiastically. "Great!" She said with an excited tone, placing her mug down on the table in front of her. "I just thought it would be easier for you to stay here because of the rain. I don't want you to be anywhere near the streets while it's pouring," she said with a nervous chuckle. I nodded and smiled in return. "I appreciate the invite," I said, my hands neatly placed over my lap.

"You wanna watch something?" Lapis said as she picked up the remote that rested on the table in front of her, wiggling it from side to side. "Mhm!" I said as I took another sip of my hot chocolate. She giggled in return, pressing the Netflix button. She scrolled through the different series and movies. As she went through the choices, I spotted something out of the corner of my eye. A series called "Camp Pining Hearts." This series was one of my all-time favorite shows, and I have probably watched all seasons at least 7 times. "Camp Pining Hearts!" I shouted out, pointing towards the show. Lapis just peered as I yelled out the show's name but realized what I was pointing out. "You watch that too?" Lapis said, lifting her brow with a smirk.

She watched it too? This is great! Now we have another interest to talk about when we want. "You know it too?" I asked as I turned my head in excitement. She giggled before speaking. "I've watched the whole series," she said proudly, crossing her arms. I gasped. "Well, let's watch it together again then!" I said, getting into a comfortable position to stay on the couch. "Alright then, but first, we need blankets," Lapis said, jumping up and walking up the stairs. Not even seconds later, Lapis had returned with one cozy blanket to wrap around us. She neatly placed it over my lap and climbed in under it afterwards. She then pressed play, the intro scene playing. My eyes were big and bright, my attention fully focused on the screen in front of me. I didn't even hear the slight drizzle from outside; it had started raining. Luckily, it was much warmer inside than outside.

It was nearly 8:30 pm. We had spent the rest of the day focused on the show, commenting on whether the characters would have done something stupid or funny. We had a very pleasant time, such a pleasant time that we had not seen the time fly by. It was now nighttime, and our eyes were still locked on the screen placed in front of us. But I could feel myself dozing off every now and then. I wanted to stay awake, but my eyes would fall closed every time I started to drift away. I tried to get the closest thing to me to lean on as I drifted off into slumber, which happened to have been Lapis herself. I couldn't catch Lapis' expression, but I felt she was stiff. But after a few moments later, she eased up and gently placed her arm around mine as I fell asleep.

(1769 Words)