Come With Me (Lapidot)

Chapter 14

A/N: Been a while, sorry about that guys, life's a royal b**ch when she chooses to be haha. Anyway, this chapter is from BOTH Lapis' and Peri's views. Also, working on editing the next chapter as this one is being posted. That'll be up Thursday, no excuses!

Thanks guys! Enjoy! -L&L

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Peridot's POV:

She was being driven up the wall. Figuratively, of course, but da**it! After everything, the awkward rendezvous with Lapis, the cold and lonely walk home, the earful she got from her mother about tracking wet footprints through the house, it all just seemed to cave in. She spent the next day fiercely practicing her chords, desperate to ease her mind into the comfort of concentration.

Because things were normal when she listened to the notes she played. Things were just okay when her mother stared her down, nodding her head in approval only once after a difficult piece. And that normalcy and that infinite loop of 'just okay' were enough when everything else was too crazy.

Amethyst called her several times, texted when she didn't receive an answer. Something about not being in school the next couple of days and hoping Peridot was doing fine.

And Peri was fine. Just fine. Perfect, in fact, as long as she didn't think about anything aside from the sheet music directly before her eyes. It was only when the music ended and she was flipping a page or pausing to gather her bearings that things went downhill. Because then Lapis slipped into her mind like a breeze through an open window. A window that severely needed to be shut and locked. Maybe the curtains even needed to be drawn.

The hours ticked by. Her mother came and went through the house, then left her alone as three rolled around. And Peri's stiffening back and tired fingers forced her to give up, to stand, to let the suddenly overbearing silence weigh down like a wave against her shoulders. She hated it, going so far as to hum to herself irritably as she headed to the kitchen to grab a glass of water.

It didn't help. Nothing helped. Because she found her hand subconsciously touching at that spot on her forehead where Lapis' fingers had brushed. She found herself blinking and staring into the eternal blue of unreal eyes. She found herself shaking as the ghost of a whisper crossed her cheek, her lips, promising endless torment.

Why? Why couldn't she chalk it up to nothing? Why was Lapis like a poison swimming in her veins, burning her, cursing her, killing her from the inside out? Why the h*ll did she care so f***ing much, anyways?

She didn't realize she was shaking again until her glass of water slipped from trembling fingertips, catching the edge of the counter she'd been standing before, toppling to the floor by her feet.

The glass didn't break, somehow, but the cool liquid sloshed against her bare toes and made her yelp, jumping back unexpectedly, stumbling slightly. Her eyes were wide as the daydream she'd lost herself within snapped, reality like a rubber band tugging her back in. How she hated it.

"Great," she muttered, running a hand over her face, pushing her glasses up out the way to rub at her eyes. A sigh stuck in the back of her throat and she resigned to grabbing the hand towel laid meticulously across the counter. "God, what's wrong with me?!"

A rhetorical question. But it hung in the air like a knife poised before her bleeding heart regardless.

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She'd never been big on amusement parks. Sure, they were fun and all for the tourists that made a habit of stopping when they got to Beach City, and the younger children found entertainment in the arcade and more exciting rides, but eventually the shine wears away. You grow to realize that all the booths are rigged, that winning those (mostly stupid) prizes is near impossible. You realize that you've grown up, and games like that just aren't appealing anymore.