Sorry, still bad at this. (SEQUEL) (LAPIDOT HUMAN AU)

Chapter 2

"I haven't been here since I was ten years old." I deadpanned, looking up at the large 'Funland' sign displayed across the entrance of the amusement park. "Who the hell cares? You got a lil' time to spare, right?" Amethyst answered quickly, grabbing my wrist and hurrying me in. Amethyst was admittedly one of my best friends for several years, and also a former girlfriend of mine. I don't like to talk about it much, but it was so long ago, so there is no point in doing so anyways. Since the time I left Beach City, Amethyst didn't seem to change drastically.

Her hair was still bleached and dyed a soft lavender color, and it was tied back in a ponytail. She just seemed to bare tattoos across her arms and shoulders that I hadn't seen before. As she dragged me into the park, she gave me a long once-over, before raising an eyebrow. "Someone's changed." she mentioned. "Is that supposed to be a good or bad thing?" I asked, arching a brow as well. I always considered change to be somewhat a good thing generally. "Well, you're clearly a middle aged woman who works in a cubical now, so." she replied, looking away right away.

I scoffed, secretly offended by this to an extent. "Middle-aged?! Cubical?! Both of those observations are so inaccurate I could drown myself." I judged, rolling my eyes. She then roughly nudged me, taking me aback some. "I'm kidding, Peridot. It's called a jooooke. You look good. Just more mature, I guess." she added, shrugging. I felt I could agree with her there. I impressed myself with how much I had improved in maturity. "You used to wear dorky ass clothes...your alien t-shirts, and your big ol' green nerd glasses. Your hair was a stellar mess. You had some pretty sick plugs too...well seems like you still have those." Ame noticed, looking at my ears.

"Well, you can't exactly reverse the effect of receiving gages, unfortunately." I said, raising my finger to softly touch my plain black gages. "And I don't live in this suit, for your information." I added, brushing off my pantsuit. "I simply wear this when I work." Amethyst then rolled her eyes. "And when are you not working?" she asked. "Right now." I deadpanned. "Yet you're still wearing it." she shot back, and my train of thought froze for a moment. Right. "Well I'm taking a break to be here, Amethyst. I have a meeting right after this." I explained as I looked down at the time on my cell phone.

"Look at that slicked back hair. I remember when you'd look like fuckin' Dr. Frankenstein." Amethyst cackled, looking up at my hair. I then placed a hand on my carefully gelled hair, and recalled my previous rats' nest. "Well, now you don't have to worry about that anymore." I grunted as we approached one of the booths. "Nah, I liked it. It was so...you. It was like a way you defined yourself." she corrected, and I sighed quietly. "So what's your occupation these days, Amethyst?" I changed the subject, feeling a sense of contrition.

"Oh! I do ink. I'm a tattoo artist back at one of the shops." she said, picking up a baseball and examining it. "I assume your interest started as you received those." I said, looking down at her tattoos. They definitely fit her well, all of the cartoonish designs abstractly plastered across her tan skin. Wacky and colorful, like her personality. "I guess you could say that." she replied, chucking the baseball at one of the displayed bottles, missing. "Did you graduate?" I then asked. "Nah, I dropped out. Didn't think I'd need any complex degrees to jus' get a job at the tattoo parlor, y'know?" she explained, shrugging.

"What about you and Pearl? You guys...still a thing?" I asked a bit more hesitantly, recalling the horrid situation Lapis had with Pearl back in college. "Oh yeah. We still together. She's actually on her way to becoming a psychology professor." she chirped. I raised both of my eyebrows in surprise. That was actually a very well fitting occupation for her to take on. She had always been good in that field, and she had actually once studied Lapis' personality...to help me out.

I looked up at her in question. "What do you mean?" I asked. "As a student majoring in psychology, I've been doing some studies lately and I've seemed to understand Lapis's personality." she explained, and I raised an eyebrow. "Does she like me?!" I asked, perking up. "Peridot, I'm not a mind reader." Pearl said, shaking her head. "But based on the way she acts and how her personality is portrayed by her actions, she's the type to keep distant from people she has feelings for." she said, which caught my attention in particular.

"Now, think about it. Ever since you've confessed your feelings to Lapis, she's been more distant. She must've been organizing her thoughts and feelings because she has mixed feelings about you. Now the reason she finds it easier to open up to others is because she's afraid of your judgement." she explained. "My judgement?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. "Yes. She's not actually fully opening up to Squari...she's just making conversation. It seems to me that she's told you the most about herself out of everyone here. But she's also afraid of saying too much, because she might be vulnerable." Vulnerable. Lapis? Vulnerable?

"Peridot?" I then snapped back to reality as Amethyst waved a hand over my face. "Oh, well I think that's a wonderful occupation for her to take on. Fits her well." I quickly stated, brushing myself off again. I shook my head and closed my eyes, attempting to rid myself of those pesky memories. My vivid memory was more of a curse than a blessing anymore. "S-so have you and Lapis just stayed in touch this entire time?" I asked, genuinely curious. I reluctantly took the baseball Amethyst had handed me.

"Welllll, not really actually. We hadn't spoken since sophomore year. But yesterday she had randomly called me up, claiming you were back in town! She sounded hella excited too, and I wasn't sure if she was fuckin' with me or not." she explained. I internally groaned. "Lovely. I don't see why she would be so excited by the presence of me, though." I replied, shrugging slightly. I then closed one eye as I carefully aimed at the stacked bottles across the way. I then tossed the ball at just the right force to knock at least three over. I knocked over four.

I then heard Amethyst applaud me, and I refrained from letting a small smirk trace my lips. Don't smile. I nodded professionally, and cleared my throat. "Why not?" she then asked. I then looked down at the ground for a moment, pursing my lips. "Obvious reasons." was all I said. " I mean, it was pretty damn confusing dude. You kinda just dipped and never said anything to anyone. I thought YOU GOT KIDNAPPED, 'til Garnet told me she heard you just left the university." Amethyst explained. I hadn't said goodbye to anyone, because not only did I find it embarrassing - it would've been too hurtful.

It would've been too sad to say goodbye to all those people I had known for so long. I found it the only suitable option to just leave anonymously to avoid any more emotional strain. If I had to say a remorseful goodbye to every single one of them, I most likely wouldn't have even went through with leaving in the first place. "I was in a rush for the earliest flight. I simply didn't have time." I lied. "Did you even...miss us?" Amethyst then asked in a low tone of voice. I was silent for a few heartbeats.

"Of course I did. I missed some people more than others." I looked to the side shyly. "Well, Lapis really missed you...she was a mess." she then said, and the mention of Lapis' name heightened my heart rate once again. "A mess?" was all I asked, slowly turning to Amethyst. "Yeah...you leaving kinda crushed her. Or at least it looked like that. Hadn't heard from her 'til now." she elaborated. I felt a sting in my chest, and the feeling of impending sadness began to slowly wash over me. It nearly seemed inevitable until I finally got ahold of myself again.

"I just so happened to run into her at the coffee shop...we had just started talking again. Just a little bit, nothing too expected or in depth." I decided to mention. Amethyst then gave me a smug smirk, and I was taken aback. "What?" I asked, slightly agitated. "You missed her toooo...didn't you?~" she purred, raising a thick eyebrow. "What?1" I asked again, furrowing my eyebrows. "You missed her. Admit it." she pointed at me with two fingers. "I AM SIMPLY HERE FOR BUSINESS PURPOSES, AMETHYST!" I raised my voice, immediately noticing myself losing my cool.

I quickly cleared my throat and regained my composure. "You should go see her again." Amethyst suggested, not even fazed by my sudden outburst. "Again, I don't have that much free time on my hands anymore, Amethyst. Very slim chance of that ever happening again. It was nice to catch up with her, but I most likely would never do it again." I firmly stated, gripping a baseball tightly, before violently swinging and chucking it at the reset up bottles. The impact of the ball had brutally shattered three of the bottles, scaring the shit out of the employee.

. . . .

"I think I can squeeze that into my schedule. Okay, I'll see you soon." I said in a formal tone. "Okay cool. Bye, Peridot." Lazuli replied on the other end, before hanging up.