Curtain in 5, 4 . . .

Chapter 13

"Peridot, I don't get why I need to close my eyes."

"Just trust me, Lapis!"

"This feels like something out of Fifty Shades of Grey."

Peridot choked, the dutifulness in her stride faltering as she related their predicament to the two characters' in that ridiculous film. "No, it's not like that!" She stated, exasperated, as she led Lapis up the couple of steps that sat at the entrance to the light booth.

"Just. . . watch your feet and. . ." Peridot whizzed past Lapis, opening the door to the booth with a grin so blindingly gleeful it looked like it belonged on a child at Disneyworld. "Step on in!"

She heard Lapis scoff, amused, as she walked past Peridot into the dark light booth. "Okay, Mr. Grey." The slender girl did a once-over of the pitch-black room, hands poised on her hips, then made a pretty confused noise. Peridot was still in a tizzy, bones still vibrating from the sheer ingenious of her usage of material on such short notice.

Lapis had picked up on her exhiliration the minute Peridot had rushed out to greet her after texting her to meet back at the Temple after her lecture. But since all that she was seeing was a dark light room. . . "O-kay. . ." Her girlfriend turned, brown eyes catching against the glow from the lit stage. "I'm not seeing anything here."

"That's because the lights are off," Peridot pointed out helpfully, excitedly taking a step inside and resting her fingers on the LED light knob. "Allow me to. . . lighten things up a bit."

Peridot swiveled the knob, thrusting their world into a pall of rich royal blue. Lapis blinked in the new light, taking a confused gander at her environment like anything would be different from before. Peridot's eyes lit up when she saw Lapis freeze when her eyes latched onto the corner of the booth, which was now home to. . .

"Ta-da!" Peridot exclaimed, speeding up to Lapis and stretching out her hand. "I just threw it together! You, um, dropped your bus receipt when you were walking into class, and it made me think. We've only really known each other for a couple weeks now, but even in those couple of weeks, we've learned so much together. Not anything particularly new," she paused, eyebrows knitting as she allotted the next few words. "But, about each other."

Seeing the blank look of misunderstanding on Lapis' face, she approached the little. . . well, she wasn't quite sure what it was, but it was some sort of craft. Like how people would vent their feelings into their creations!

She clicked on the nearby lamp, showing off the creation in a brighter light. She had found her old Mirror Gem script, the very same one Lapis had given her the second time they had ever seen one another, and with it her Greyhound bus ticket that she had used to ride down from Empire State to little old Beach City.

She had arranged these materials, plus Lapis' receipt, together in a simplistic but. . . meaningful fashion. The script was intricately stood on its bottom edge, and fortunately it was dense enough to withstand its own weight and simultaneously remain propped open. Mostly hidden inside of the pages of the booklet, with only their tips poking out, were the bus tickets, their white hue contrasting against the wan blue of the script.

"It's very simplistic," Peridot explained after allowing a moment of scrutiny on both of their behalves. "But. . . I think that's okay! I didn't make it to be flashy or attention-grabbing in any sort of way. I've just been. . . " She flailed her hands as she sought for words. "Thinking a lot today. About a lot of things. Most of it about my mother. But when you left and I saw the ticket, I just had an idea. What if we vented feelings and instead of just, bearing with them, we used things?"