Lake Gem~A Lapidot Story

Chapter 20: Family

Lapis' POV: First Person

Peridot and I walked back outside, my arm draped around hers. I was currently wearing her heavy varsity jacket, whilst she was wearing my light club jacket.

We had only walked a few yards outside before the rest noticed us. Even Greg and Amethyst's father were sitting with the girls, worried expressions plastered on their faces. Everybody looked up as soon as they saw us.

"What the literal hell, dudes," Jasper yelled. She stood up in all of her 5' 11" glory and stiffly walked over to where we were standing. Peridot shrugged my arm off her shoulders in one swift motion.

The others stood up as well and approached us. Pearl quickly glanced from Peridot to me and back to Peridot. She leaned down to Peridot's height and put her arm on her shoulder gently

"Why did you run off like that, Peridot?" Pearl said soothingly. Her thumb rubbed circles onto her shoulder, which Peridot leaned into.

"We... um," Peridot blushed. What the hell...

Pearl sighed and kneeled onto the ground so that she was a little lower than at eye level with Peridot. "You worried us. Seriously, you can tell us." Pearl gestured towards everyone except for me.

Sighing, Peridot fell forward into Pearl's arms. She quickly embraced her, glancing in my direction before closing her eyes and deepening the hug, rubbing Peridot's back with her hand.

I was becoming extremely irritated with Pearl at this point, but I kept that to myself. Pearl doesn't even know Peridot and I are now "dating". But seeing Peridot more comfortable with her than she is with me... it felt bad. When I asked questions, Peridot passed out and almost drowned. But when Pearl asked questions, she got a hug. It didn't seem right.

"Lapis," Amethyst said harshly, "what happened?"

I put my hands up in a defensive position, as if to say, 'it wasn't my fault!'. Garnet stepped forward and laid her hand on my shoulder. "Lapis," Garnet said in an almost monotone voice, "we know you would never want to hurt Peridot." She took her hand off my shoulder and crossed her arms. "But whatever you did, we'd like to know."

"I didn't do anything!" I yelled. But that wasn't the truth. "Well, not on purpose..."

I glanced over at Pearl, who still had a crying Peridot in her embrace. My face heated up in anger at the sight.

Jasper stood next to Garnet. The both of them together was intimidating, to say the least.

"Listen, what happened..." I scratched the back of my neck nervously, "Is for Peridot to decided if she wants to tell you or not. It's personal and it's my fault for invading into her life."

I bowed my head shamefully. If only I hadn't pressed her, we wouldn't be in this current situation. If only I hadn't noticed, or waited until a better time to ask her. But nooo, I was just being dumb, as always.

Amethyst scrunched her eyebrows together. "I think I'd know, Lapis," she commented in a bitter tone. Her expression softened again. "Look, Lapis, I don't mean to be harsh, but-" her eyes trailed over to Peridot and Pearl. "-I seriously care a lot about Peri. We all do. We're like her family. So if she's hurt, we're all hurt. Simple as that."

I slumped my shoulders as a wave of emotion hit me, filled with sadness, guilt, pity, regret, all of those juicy but painful feels. How could I explain everything that happened without sounding like an absolute bitch? The answer is: I can't. Because that's exactly what I was.

"You guys are gonna hate me," I mumbled, loud enough for only the three to hear. Amethyst and Jasper only looked away, but Garnet took a step forward.