Solace

Deepening skies

Pearl watched with patience as the bright blue sky faded into a vivid collage of brilliantly warm colors. It's time. The mere thought being alone with Garnet again brought an uncontrollable smirk to her lips. She smoothed down her unkempt hair and took a deep breath to simmer her rambunctious nerves. She strode out of her room with a bounce in her step to see Garnet leaning over the railing of the patio. "Hey." A warm sensation overwhelmed her when she glimpsed Garnet's clothing. Instead of her usual spandex suit, she had donned a fuchsia t-shirt with several sequenced purple stars patterned across it. A pair of high waisted jeans tightly hugged her sturdy hips which matched nicely with black ankle-high combat boots. To top her outfit off, she wore a red flannel shirt tied around her waist. "You look absolutely stunning." Through the fabric of her dark pants Pearl could clearly view her muscular legs. "You're looking rather appealing yourself." She lowered her visor slightly to take a closer peek at her. "Um... S-should I have dressed up too?" She stammered. "I figured that you might want to." she pulled out a couple folded articles of clothing and threw them into her arms. "Oh.. of course." A pair of white Converse shoes, a leather jacket, and light blue skinny jeans lay in her outstretched limbs. "I haven't worn these shoes since the last time I tried to impress Rose nearly 20 years ago." She was barely able to manage a bitter chuckle. "There's no need to reminisce on your unrequited love for Rose Quartz. It'll only wind up hurting you if you choose to live in the past." Pearl slipped into the skinny jeans. "Jealous, are we?" She pulled her arms through the sleeves of the leather jacket and popped the collar upwards loftily. "Guilty as charged." Garnet returned her gesture with a playful sneer. She discarded her brightly colored Ballet Flats and speedily laced the Converse into neat bows. "Does it look alright?" She put a hand on her hip to display her outfit for Garnet. "Hmm.. it could use one more thing." She placed her lips briefly on Pearl's cheek. "You looked a little pale. That should fix it, though." Pearl rolled her eyes as she felt the familiar heat feverishly rush to her face. "That's one way to be subtle." Her tone dripped with sarcasm. "We need to get out of here before Steven and Amethyst realize we're not in our rooms." Garnet grabbed her hand. "C'mon. I've got a few ideas of where we can go." Their fingers interlocked as they started to stroll down towards the beach. "This wouldn't be the first time you've dragged me off somewhere mwithout revealing your intent." Garnet snickered quietly. "If I had told you beforehand that I wanted to take you to a pile of ruins in the middle of the night; do you think that you would've agreed? Some things are better when left unsaid."

After a brief walk along the shores they arrived at the center of Beach City. "This isn't what I was expecting." Pearl admitted as she ambled past a couple of festively lit tourist shops. "Try to keep an open mind." Garnet strengthened her fond grip on Pearl's hand. "I think I can manage being flexible for one night." Pearl wryly nudged her in the ribs. "Good." They abruptly stopped in front of a meager building with decorative sign that read "Beach Citywalk Fries" in multicolored letters. Garnet dragged her up to the ordering window where a young scraggly haired teenage boy opened it up. Pearl immediately caught a strong whiff of frying grease and potatoes. "Welcome to Beach Citywalk fries... how may I take your order?" The boy stated in a disinterested monotone as if he had preformed this task many times before. "Two orders of chili cheese fries." Garnet answered. "I'll be back in a couple of minutes." He shut the window quickly to start preparing her order. "Two orders of chili cheese fries? How are you going to pay for them? You don't even have any money." Pearl inquired with a worrisome expression wrought upon her face. "There's no need to worry." She reached into the pocket of her jeans and pulled out a few crinkled dollar bills. "I've got this under control." The boy opened the window once again and handed the two baskets of fries to Garnet. "That'll be five dollars and sixty cents please." She placed the dollar bills into his awaiting hand and gave Pearl one of the baskets of fries. "Give it a try." She suggested, drawing a cheese coated fry from the mixture and placing it into her mouth. "You know I don't particularly care for food." Pearl scowled at the sight of the greasy pile of grub that was clenched in her hand. "Have you ever tasted these before?" Pearl gave her a condescending glance. "No. I've made my point quite clear before and I'll gladly make it clear once again: I refuse to eat anything whatsoever. It's a rather gruesome process that consists of swallowing a foul mashed-up-saliva-filled concoction that then passes throughout your insides and comes out in a completely undignified manner. Who would want to do that to themselves? I certainly don't." Garnet shrugged and put another fry into her mouth. "The taste is completely worth it, I assure you. Besides; I thought you said you could 'manage being flexible.' Did that proposition mean anything to you? Because if it did you would've already taken up my offer by now." Pearl opened her mouth to speak but hastily shut it when she realized she had no response. "I promise that I'll stop pestering you about this if you just put a fry in your mouth. You don't even have to swallow it if you don't like it." Pearl narrowed her eyes and huffed frustratedly. "you're acting quite childish about this." Garnet cocked one eyebrow upwards slightly. "Well excuse me for trying to help you have a good time." Cynicism teemed within her tone of voice. "And how is eating a French fry going to help me have a good time, exactly?" Pearl quipped. "It was just a minor detail that was supposed to make this night a little more memorable. Simple as that." Garnet's intonation had become slightly more chilling with each sentence she spoke. Pearl pursed her lips into a thin line, clearly contemplating her next actions. Instead of arguing she begrudgingly lifted a fry off of the plate as an expression of utter repugnance contorted upon her face. then she tilted her head backwards and dropped the cheese-encrusted morsel into her awaiting mouth. her tensed muscles didn't alleviate until She swallowed it. "Did I mention that I can be impulsive as well as flexible?" A rebellious edge had crept its way into her voice. "I knew you'd do it." Garnet ruffled her strawberry blonde hair affectionately. "How did it taste?" Pearl licked her lips, savoring the tangy flavor. "...delectable." She answered hesitantly. a widespread grin emerged on Garnet's usually inexpressive face. "I'm proud of you." she raised her eyebrow provocatively. "for what? i could've done that without any difficulty. it's just simply an inconvenience to ingest anything that isn't absolutely necessary." "don't get smart with me." Their lighthearted quarrel was interrupted by a vague silhouette in the distance that seemed to be waving to the two of them. As the figure approached them pearl caught a glimpse of the profile's definitive features. she had glossy locks of rosy pink hair and striking emerald green eyes. a dented black motorcycle helmet was tucked loosely underneath one of her muscular arms. she wore a close-fitting white shirt that revealed her curvy attributes profoundly. "Hey." Her melodious voice rang through the empty street. Pearl gulped anxiously when the woman spoke. She recognized that confident stance, that alluring purr in the bottommost part of her voice. "pearl, do you know this girl?" Garnet stepped in front of her protectively. "I... uh.." she blundered. Before she could answer, the girl chimed in with her silvery voice. "of course she knows me; we met at Mike Krol's concert a couple of months ago. i gave her my phone number but never got a call back." she batted her long eyelashes innocently, waiting for a response.