Need A Light?

Chapter 2

Peridot sat looking at the phone, deciding whether to call the number on the paper. He got up and paced around his room, lighting a cigarette to help him decide. He stubbed it out as he returned to bed, picked up the phone, and dialed the number. It rang twice before it was answered.

"Hello?" The voice that answered sounded different from how Peridot remembered her voice, but it was still the same sweet voice.

"Hello, Lapis?" Peridot took out another cigarette from his pocket and lit it.

"Yes. Who is this?" Lapis asked from the other end. Her voice slightly muffled by the music in the background.

"It's Peridot. We met the other night in the bar, remember?"

"Oh yes, Peridot! How could I forget? It's good to hear your voice again." Lapis chuckled and started singing along to the song playing on the radio.

"I missed you too." Peridot smiled. "Especially those lips of yours~"

"Already flirting, and it's barely our second date~."

"Would you like to make a second?" Peridot drew from his cigarette as he waited for Lapis' response.

"When?" Lapis smiled, hoping it would be soon.

"How about now? Your place?" Peridot asks.

"I'll be waiting~" Lapis says before she hangs up the phone.

"Now to find something to wear..." It wasn't a formal date, so Peridot wore a striped black and green polo shirt and a jacket. He put Lapis' address, keys, and a revolver into his pocket. As Peridot headed to his car, he tried to be as quiet as possible so as not to wake his mother, who was oddly asleep despite usually being up late into the night. She often spent those hours doing paperwork or making loud phone calls to her associates.

As Peridot was headed to the garage, he had somehow forgotten that associates were on patrol.

"Where ya goin', boss?" Emerald was patrolling the front gate.

"Out." Peridot said bluntly, trying to shoot down the conversation Emerald wanted to start.

"Oh- uh, let me radio someone to go with you-"

"No- no, I'm going by myself. I don't need an escort." Peridot stopped Emerald from radioing anyone.

"I can't let you go by yourself, boss. Dee would have my head if something happened to you."

"Wow. My mother cares about me." Peridot thought. Despite spending 22 years with Peridot, his mother never displayed any signs of appreciation for his accomplishments. She didn't even attend his high school graduation. Ever since his father passed away, she has been solely focused on work, prioritizing money and status over everything else.

"I have my revolver. I think I'll be okay." Peridot steps past Emerald to reach the cars in the garage, taking out his black Chevy Corvette. He then takes out the address listed on the piece of paper Lapis gave him the other night and makes his way toward her apartment building. Once he arrived, he parked his car in the lot and proceeded to the third floor. The building was relatively new, only about two or three years old. When driving down the street, it stands out from the rest. There are no broken windows in any of the apartments, the lights in the hallway work, the elevator isn't broken down, and no homeless people are sleeping on the front steps. Lapis' room was the last one at the end of the hall.

"358. This is it." Peridot knocks on the door and steps back. He feels a little bit nervous, this being possibly his first serious relationship. Messing something up now might ruin their relationship's future. He can hear Lapis walk up to the door and unlock it.