Rising Tides (Human!lapidot)

Chapter 22

Lapis woke up to her phone buzzing next to her ear. Lifting up her head, she glanced at her ocean themed alarm clock. With a groan she picked up her phone, shifting into a sitting position and opening up her texts. Peridot?

Peridot: Lapis are you awake?

Lapis: I am now...

Peridot: Sorry.

For some reason Peridot seemed a bit...off? No sarcastic comebacks of anything. Though she till had her perfect grammar, something that surprised Lapis slightly. Slightly. It was very like Peridot after all.

Lapis: its fine

Lapis: so, what's up?

Peridot: Had a bad dream/flashback thing and I feel awful.

Lapis: and what do you want me to do about it?

Peridot: Come over?

Lapis: it's 3am on a school night.

Peridot: So? You can stay over.

Lapis hesitated, weighing down her options. Going round Peridot's did sound really nice, her parents were never home so waking up from a bad dream must've been awful. Plus, she'd have to comfort the blonde...which means hugs and kisses- wait! No! No!

Lapis: you sure?

Peridot: Yeah its fine

Lapis: and you're fine?

Peridot: Not...really??

Lapis: what's that supposed to mean?

Peridot: Just come over, I know you want too ;)

Lapis: fine.

She had accepted. Only because Peri needed her help. And she wasn't really that tired anyways.. Wait..Peri?

Jumping out of her bed, she decided to change into more suitable clothes, packing any essentials she needed for school in her bag before leaving the house. Her parents still weren't home, Lapis was very thankful for this. Finally, she began her walk to Peridot's house, kicking leaves and stones on her way there. Lapis was pretty sure winter was coming soon, which meant snow. Which meant snowball fights and snowman making competitions with Steven and Connie.

Upon arriving at Peridot's house, she tapped on the door, not wanting to wake up the neighbours. Two more attempts later, the door opened a crack and familiar tired green eyes stared at the bluenette for a second. Then, the door shut, a few metallic noises could be heard from inside before the door fully opened, revealing Peridot wearing nothing but long pyjama bottoms and an over sized shirt with diamond patterns on it. Her blonde hair was...well, everywhere. It was adorable to say the least.

Then Lapis looked down into her eyes. They were red, like she had been constantly rubbing them and her cheeks were wet with tears. She looked a lot smaller than she already was, cowering by the door. She shivered and stepped to the side to let Lapis in. Lapis stepped inside and was hit by the familiar warmth and the faint scent of mountain dew. Typical.

"Are you you okay?" Lapis repeated, staring into Peridot's eyes once she shut the door and locked it.

Peridot's set the keys back in the pot on a shelf beside the door and motioned Lapis to follow her to her room. Lapis nodded, following behind the tiny blonde. Once inside, Peridot sat back in her bed, wrapping the blankets around her shoulders and curling up. More tears streamed from her emerald green eyes, making Lapis' heart ache. By she couldn't do anything. She didn't know how to comfort her. Especially when she felt like...this.

"Can you tell me what's wrong?" Lapis mumbled trying o keep her tone as soft as she could as she sat down on the end of Peridot's bed.

Peridot sniffled, wiping her eyes with a blankets. "Had a bad flashback dream...thing. I already told you this" she sounded impatient. But also scared.

"What was it about?"

"Jasper"

Of course it was, Lapis shouldn't have thought otherwise. As far as she knew Jasper had ruined Peridot's life. She didn't know when or how but maybe she'd find out tonight?

"What happened?" Another question. Lapis tried not to sound condescending or demanding but she was getting tired and it was 3am and she felt weird around Peridot.

Peridot only shook her head, burying her head and letting out muffled breathless sobs. Whatever it was it had definitely shaken the smaller girl up.

Lapis' brain wasn't working anymore. She leant forward, carefully pulling the blankets from Peridot's grip. Grabbing her shoulders, she pulled the blonde up and wrapped her arms round her waist. Peridot didn't complain, changing her position to lean into Lapis' shoulder and close her eyes. She seemed to calm down, the sobs stopped and her breathing leveled.

"Jasper hurt me" she mumbled, her voice muffled by Lapis' hoodie sleeve.

"How?"

"She punched me hard. And threw me against the walls" Peridot's voice shook once again as she spoke.

Lapis' heart broke. Shattered into a million pieces. Her grip tightened around the fragile girl, burying her face into her poofy blonde hair in the hopes of comforting her.

"I was nine years old when it started".

More sobs. By now tears had started to form on the bluenettes eyes. Sure, she'd definitely had bullying problems before but not this bad. It was more spreading rumours and insults, nothing physical.

And then Jasper came along, pulling her 'nice girl' act. Lapis had trusted her and in return she had gotten pulled into Jaspers gang of thugs who were set to ruin the school. She had almost gotten expelled for setting fireworks off in the canteen. That was when she knew she was hanging with the wrong crowd and changed her ways around. For a while, she genuinely believed Jasper was a nice person. Oh boy was she wrong.

One of her victims was in her arms, sobbing softly into her sleeve, which was starting to become damp but Lapis didn't care. She'd seen a new side to Peridot, one she'd never hoped to see. Helpless. Tiny. Scared. Not the stoic girl who showed no emotions she had first met.

Lapis was cut off from her thoughts when she realised the crying had stopped. Instead, steady breaths came from Peridot. She had fallen asleep. In Lapis' arms. If this wasn't cliche, she didn't know what was. She knew what happened next and just accepted it and she pulled the covers over both of their legs and fell asleep in each others arms.

OK guys so I get a week off school so I can update a lot more. If I'm lucky, I might be able to update once a day- think of it as a mini lapidot bomb full of angst and fluff alike! You're welcome :')

(Edited)