Cardiac Arrest (Lapidot)

Chapter 9

Lapis: It's under the closed down highway down 7th st

Peridot: Alright seeya soon 

It was 6:32 PM, and I took a deep breath as I peeked down the stairs. I strained my ears to listen for any noises from any of the girls, but to my relief, I heard none. I kept a good grip on my backpack, which was holding Lapis's fixed laptop. I cautiously tip-toed down the staircase, making sure not to fall down this time. Once I reached the bottom, I heard a tiny tap from the kitchen, and I jolted. I zoomed to the front door as fast as possible, and placed my hand on the doorknob quietly. I turned my head to glance behind me for a moment, and the light in the kitchen suddenly flicked on. 

I gritted my teeth, and felt like I was already sweating bullets. I CANNOT be interrogated by my frickin roommates again. I yanked open the front door, and slipped out. I closed the door behind me as quiet as possible, and I let out a sigh of relief once I was finally outside. I walked out to the driveway, and unlocked my car. "AY PERIDOT!!" I heard Amethyst's voice boom, and I nearly screeched at the top of my lungs. I yanked the car door open, and hopped into the vehicle urgently. "Hey, where you goin'?!" she shouted. 

I slammed the door shut, and turned to look out the window for a second. Pearl was sitting cross-legged on the lawn with a cigarette between her fingers, and Amethyst stood in front of her with a cigarette still in her mouth. They appeared to be previously smoking together before I came out of the house. Amethyst was waving maniacally at me, and my lips curled into a frown. I dropped the backpack into the passenger seat and lowly groaned. My hands trembled as I jammed the keys into the ignition, and turned them. 

Once the engine purred, I immediately put the car into reverse, and floored the pedal.

. . . .

"Hey, I'm glad you could make it!" Lapis said in an enthusiastic tone that made me smile. "Heh, so am I. So what're we exactly doing?" I asked, tilting my head. "Well, I normally don't do this... that and I'm actually technically not allowed to do this, but I'm investigating this place and I want your help." she explained, pulling out her flashlight. She was in uniform, and I eyed the flashlight in her hand. "Oh! I also have your laptop... it's in my car." I said, jerking my thumb in the direction of my parked car. "Oh, awesome! I could grab it once we finish up here..." she replied, tipping her head down to look at her flashlight.

It suddenly switched on pointing at my face, and temporarily blinded me. I yelped in surprise, and stumbled backward as I blinked my eyes several times. "S-sorry!" Lapis apologized before snorting. "Heh, it's fine..." I shook my head, grumbling quietly. "Here, I brought you one too." she said holding one out to me. I hesitantly took it, and squinted my eyes to look for the switch. "So, have you been around these parts?" I heard her voice echo off of the concrete walls.

Once I flicked the switch, I chuckled in victory. "Gah, I'm not sure. It's pretty damn dark here. Hard to recognize anything, really." I replied, shining my flashlight into small corners. "So what's the case again?" I asked, now pointing the beam of light up onto the walls. "A guy supposedly shot himself here, and the case closed at that. But for whatever reason the chief had, he wanted to open it back up. He asked for recruits to investigate the scene one more time thoroughly, so I volunteered." the cop explained, mindlessly shining her flashlight around. "You think he made a discovery or something?" I asked, turning to her.

"Well, he sure found something. That's why he wanted us to go search further." she responded quietly. I nodded in response, and turned my flashlight to the right a little, before raising my eyebrows in shock. There was a splatter of old blood across the wall, and I cringed. "Yikes..." I muttered barely above a whisper. I then heard Lapis's footsteps come up behind me, and she made a small 'ooh' noise. "This must've been where the deed was done..." she inferred, and I swallowed dryly. A strange feeling in the pit of my stomach began to bubble, and I looked around.

I shined the light onto another wall, and spotted graffiti art. It read 'Reject False Icons' in bubbly red letters, with different colors bordering the wording. It looked oddly familiar, and chills ran down my spine once I glanced back over at the blood. I was almost sure Lapis had said something, but it was nearly inaudible to me, since my mind was overflowing with thoughts, and I was now able to hear my own heartbeat.

I switched my flashlight to the floor, then up at the ceiling. I shined it over the same walls over and over again, and it all began to make sense now. I soon started to internally panic, and I finally heard Lapis's voice again. "Peridot? You alright?" she asked, and I felt her soft touch on my shoulder. "O-oh! Yeah! I'm fine... sorry I just zoned out for a moment." I assured, nervously chuckling. Totally didn't watch Jasper murder a guy here. And of course that guy couldn't have possibly been maybe the one who was proclaimed dead due to suicide.

Now listen - Jasper's no murderer. And I'm no sociopath. Let's just say the guy was a threat, and Jasper had to do what she had to do... and I didn't stop her. I was praying that this wasn't the same guy, but it seemed pretty close... I looked in the direction of the splatter, then down at the floor. Jasper and I were facing this way... and the guy was... fuck. I was now almost positive this was in fact the guy who Jasper killed. Did she end up leaving the gun with the guy's body?! What about her fingerprints though?! Did she wear gloves? God please tell me she wore gloves...

What if they found Jasper's fingerprints on the gun if she left it?! AGH. I continued asking myself these highly distressing questions in my head, subtly pacing back and forth. "Hm. So if the chief opened the case back up, it must've not been a suicide... right? I wonder if he was murdered..." Lapis was thinking out loud, and I gulped. "I-I honestly think it was a suicide. I mean, think of how smart the investigators probably were before! Surely they must've came to a promising conclusion - a suicide!" I rambled, throwing my hands in the air.

"Hm. But how can we be so sure?" Lapis asked, placing her fingers on her chin while staring at the blood on the wall now. "W-well he had drugs on him, s-so surely he wasn't in his right mind..." I replied quickly, inching closer to Lapis and placing my hand onto her shoulder. There was a moment of silence, and it was almost unsettling. "Wait...how did you know he had drugs?" she asked, turning her head to look at me.

I felt all of the blood drain from my face, and I stared into her eyes, probably with shrinking pupils. I opened my mouth to give my explanation, however to my dismay, there were none. I pursed my lips and groaned quietly, not breaking eye contact with her. Her expression was now confused, and I felt a knot tie in my stomach. Think of anything. ANYTHING. FIRST THING THAT COMES TO MIND. COME ON. My hands dropped my flashlight, reached forward and grabbed Lapis's shoulders firmly. She raised an eyebrow as she looked down at my arms, but her eyes darted back up to mine once I leaned forward.

I shut my eyes tightly as I smashed my lips into hers. Lapis squeaked in surprise, and she made a confused noise. I deepened the kiss, just hoping she wouldn't pull away, or slap me or something. And... she never did. In fact, after a few moments, she tilted her head and kissed back. I heard the flashlight previously in her hand drop to the ground. I felt a blush coming on, and the heat spread all the way down to my shoulders. PERIDOT WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! THIS WASN'T WHAT FIRST CAME TO MIND!! OR... was it...? Either way, it most definitely felt right to me, no matter how wrong it actually was in reality.

Lapis's hands were placed on either side of my face, and I furrowed my eyebrows a little bit. I then slowly pulled away, and looked at Lapis with a mixture of affection and utter terror. Lapis stared back at me with utter surprise, and a blush appeared to be spread across her face as well. "S-sorry! I'm sorry! I'M SORRY!!!" I repeated, tangling my fingers into my hair and speed walking in the opposite direction.

"H-hey wait! Peridot!" I heard her raise her voice as she quickly followed behind me. I stared down at the ground shyly with my hands remaining in my hair. "It's okay... d-don't be sorry..." she murmured, and I cocked my head to look at her. "I-I have your laptop in my car. Wh-why don't we work on this case another day... I admit I may be too distracted to search." I explained nervously. "Uhhh...o-okay..." Lapis replied quietly. I wanted to kiss her again. And again. And again. And again. And again.

Holy shit I think it worked! I honestly didn't think something like that would work on her. God, why did I do that?! This is basically just temporary! She's not gonna be distracted from the case forever...That kiss was merely supposed to be a distraction... but that seemed to affect me way more than I thought it would. I definitely just changed things between the both of us...

... was this good or bad?