Rising Tides (Human!lapidot)

Chapter 25

Peridot longed to jump into the water after Lapis but her brain told her not to. To just watch quietly as she swam back and forth in the ocean, her wet hair sticking to her face, her eyes locked onto the horizon. She looked so serious when she swam, anyone could tell she loved doing it by just looking at her face. In fact, Lapis looked at ease in the water, like she was meant for it, to swim and dive. It made Peridot's heart beat faster thinking of Lapis like that.

And there there was her, Peridot, setting cross legged on a green blanket, book in hand, hair a mess and wearing shorts in public. She was a mess, she knew that, but she had learnt to ignore all the insults about her appearance. She'd learnt to just simply block people out. It was a useful skill to have. But Lapis thrived from attention, even though she kept to herself most of the time, when someone spoke or complemented her, she beamed as bright as the sun. It was adorable, in Peridot's opinion. She was lucky to have Lapis as a friend. Peridot had been bullied for her walk when she had first gotten her prosthetic. Heck, she was bullied because of her prosthetic and that was why she was always self conscious about it. She'd only told a handful of people about it, hardly anyone in the school knew, they either forgot or just didn't know.

But Lapis hadn't said anything negative about it. She though it was cool and normally stared at it with awe when she was walking around her house wearing shorts. She did that a lot. Peridot hadn't mentioned it to the others yet but she was sure they'd be okay with it too. Though she wasn't sure she could call them friends yet. Steven and Connie seemed petty cool, she could definitely trust them with anything. Same with Pearl, she was nice and liked the same things she did. They got along well. Amethyst, she couldn't trust with any secret. She was super sweet but blurted anything she was told to everyone she knew in school. Ruby was very salty towards Peridot and she had never really spoken to Sapphire before but she seemed...chill.

"Peridot" Lapis stood over the daydreaming girl, soaking wet and panting as if she had run a marathon. More like swam a marathon. Peridot internally snorted.

"Hi" she said, looking up with a small smile.

Lapis didn't reply, instead, grabbing her towel and wrapping it around her shoulders like a cape. She sat down on her other towel and tried to catch her breath before speaking.

"We should've brought deckchairs" Lapis breathed.

Peridot nodded. That would've been nice. Better than sitting on a blanket on the uncomfortable sand. Peridot was sure she had been sitting on a stone for the past half hour but was too lazy to move. Her legs ached and she as getting kinda hungry. Yes, she'd bought food, sandwiches and crisps and fizzy drinks. Healthy.

Lapis chose a simple cheese sandwich and tore the box open with no trouble and picking up one of the sides, placing the box beside her feet and hoping it wouldn't fall. Peridot picked her sandwich from the small pile and tore to top of the box off, flinging it into her bag and biting down on her food. The two ate, making small talk, like what their favourite lessons were and about their future. Stuff like that.

"Oh, by the way" Lapis stopped eating for a moment, turning to Peridot "do you know when our first big rehearsal is? Y'know, the ones with the props and costumes and stuff?"

Popping the last of her food in her mouth and reaching over for a bag of crisps, Peridot shook her head and shrugged.

"You sure eat a lot for someone so small" Lapis giggled.

Peridot growled, opening the bag of crisps and glaring at the blue haired girl beside her "I'm not small".

"You're like, half my size"

"A little over half-"

"Stand up" the bluenette ordered.

Peridot could not believe they were doing this. It was so dumb. Sure, she ate a lot but she was growing. Kind of? She was still small for her age but maybe one day she'd be taller than Lapis. The blonde stood up alongside Lapis, who was smirking. Peridot barely reached Lapis' shoulder, her blonde hair only poking over it slightly.

"Cute".

"Oh my god Lapis" Peridot groaned and slumped back down.

Lapis laughed and brushed the sand off of her legs and arms and turned back towards the ocean. This time she was slower, picking her way over the path of rocks and wincing slightly as the dug into her bare feet. Peridot should've give her the sandals, they were old after all and she needed new ones.

She watched once again as Lapis waded further into the water until it was up to her waist. Then she jumped in and disappeared from view. Her head bobbed up second later then vanished.

Peridot had made her decision, taking off her sandals she stood up slowly. Walking across the rocks was no big deal, she couldn't feel anything with her prosthetic and her other foot had hardened from days of running around barefoot outside when she was younger. She'd always accidentally stepped on stones or glass so cutting it would be fine. Peridot was no idiot, she'd brought a small first aid kit with her.

She set the sandals down and made her way back, almost slipping and falling on the sea soaked rocks. Clutching her chest in shock, she stepped back onto the soft sand and waited for her heart to stop thudding in her chest.

- - -

They were at the beach for what felt like hours. Lapis had been laying on her back and watching as she sky grew dark and the tide grew closer on the damp sand. Peridot had read for a bit, eaten, watched Lapis and was now texting Amethyst.

"Hey Peri"

Lapis stood in front of her once again, wearing her sandals, that actually fit better than she though they would.

"Don't call me that" though the nickname did sound good. It had a nice ring to it when Lapis said it.

"Its getting late" Lapis checked her phone "can you drive me home?"

Peridot nodded, face burning.

Probably the last of this tiny lapidot bomb (that didn't really have anything but platonic lapidot rip) because I might not have an WiFi this weekend :')

(Edited)