your pov
"turn it off"
"how?"
"the off switch!"
"why won't it work?"
"steven, that's the volume"
"why's your phone so weird"
"i'll just do it"
...
"she sounds mad"
"what makes you say that?"
"guys?" i rub my eyes after being woken up by connie and steven mumbling
"hey"
"morning" connie greeted with a warm smile
"what are you guys on about"
"my mum keeps calling and messaging, should i answer?"
"yeah just say you found your phone a minute ago"
without an answer, connie began tapping away at the glowing screen to explain her disappearance
ring
her phone began to buzz as someone repeatedly called her
"heyyyy mum" she answers
"connie! where have you been!?"
despite her phone not being on speaker, i could still hear her mothers angry words
"i lost my phone and forgot when curfew was"
from that point on, dr mahashewarens words were inaudible to me and steven, so we sat quietly trying to understand the conversation by connies responses
"i'm not"
...
"no not at his"
...
"i'm sorry"
...
"yes"
...
"can't i have a break just for today?"
...
"mum-"
...
"fine."
...
"bye.."
she hung up and turned to us with a frown
"okay, i have to be back home asap and i told her i stayed with you, soda. but no offence.. you might wanna change"
"change?"
"your clothes" she clarified
"what's wrong with them?"
"my mum hates the things steven wears"
"and..?"
...
"soda you're literally wearing his clothes"
"ohh, but i don't have anything else?"
"okay one second"
connie rushed to the bathroom and returned looking the exact same, except now she had a shirt in her grasp
"where did you get that?" steven asks
"i was wearing it underneath the sweater, just put this on and give it back tomorrow"
i agreed and rushed to the bathroom, accidentally taking much longer than needed
the shirt had two buttons resting just below the collar, it was an off white shade and i feared the possibility of getting it stained or dirty
i also took the time to carefully brush my hair into place and slightly wet it to hold down the flyaways
i rinsed my face with cold water and brushed my teeth before preparing to fake a smile for connies mother.
before turning the door knob, i gently pressed my ear against the wooden door to better hear steven and connies conversation
i did this a lot, never really knowing why. maybe so i didn't walk in on a weird topic?
there was a lot of giggling and laughing from the other side, but i couldn't hear much other than that, still i could instantly tell they were flirting
why wouldnt he flirt with her? she's so passionate and happy all the time. she's an ideal person
"wow soda you look so pretty!" connie smiles wide when seeing me
steven sits in silence beside her, with a less enthusiastic expression
"thanks"
"are you going to keep the gloves on?"
"should i?"
"well you look a bit like a biker, they do look nice just not when you're meeting my parents"
"but what about my gem?"
"try keep it out of sight, i'm sorry for making you act so different"
i assured her it was fine and soon we were on our way
steven decided to come and just stand out of sight while we projected our lie.
he was walking in the middle whilst talking to connie the entire journey there, i stayed in silent the whole trip acting like a ghost.
despite looking the other direction, in my peripherals i could vividly see steven turn his head and glimpse down at me every so often
"i'm just gonna wait at lars' bakery, goodluck"
the rest of the walk was only short, about five minutes so i was fine with him leaving
"so you're from westbay?"
"yeah.. how did you know?"
"steven told me when i asked about his scratches, what was it like?"
"it was good, i guess. the people not so much"
connie just nodded understandingly before opening her front door
"connie mahashewaren!" her mother stormed to the door, her father standing close behind.
i felt like i briefly saved connie from a parental scolding, because as soon as her mother saw me, her entire demeanour switched
"who's this?"
"it's soda, i stayed at her house"
connies parents shook my hand and i made sure not to use or show the one with my shiny
blue gem
"thank you for taking care of our connie, goodbye"
connie waved goodbye with a thankful smile before the door slammed shut in my face
now i could finally let my fake enthusiasm disappear.
i decided to walk to lars bakery for a catch up as there wasn't anything waiting for me back home
steven wasn't there anymore and deep down i was thankful that i could talk to lars alone.
he had a few people in line and didn't notice me enter, so i waited like everyone else.
no other people joined the que behind me, which gave me more time to catch up with lars.
"have a good day" he said farewell to the customer infront of me
"what would you li-" he finally looked down at me
"fizz!"
"hey lars"
he ushered me to follow him and we took a seat at one of the empty booths where i rested my head in my arms
"what's wrong?"
"i'm just tired"
"is that it?"
i nod, even though i was hardly even tired.
"soo" i look up "do you like anyone?"
lars turns red and lies, telling me there was no one
"come on, i know you're not telling the truth"
"okay okay, i like this girl but there's no point, by the time she's graduated college i'll still be the same age as i am now"
"that sucks"
"i'm going to have to watch everyone i love die"
the room turned mute from the conversations sudden tone change, now you could see the newly revealed pain in his glossy eyes
"lars, i didn't mean to make you upset" i apologise
"i know, it's just hard sometimes"
"well atleast you won't have to watch me die"
he glances curiously at me
"what?"
"well pearl said since i'm half gem, there's a likelyhood i could either age really slowly, or learn how to master my age and how fast i grow up"
he smiled hopefully
"finally there's some good news"
we talked and he quickly got back to his regular happy mood, but swiftly had to return to his job when a large family poured in
bye i mouthed with a small wave
he did the same, but his hands were far too busy with preparing orders for a wave
the sun was shining and rather than heading straight home, i decided to take a trip to a small beach area i knew
there was a rock pool hidden out of sight where i've never seen anyone else discover, on the warm days like today you could see the crabs and small colourful fish come out of hiding and swim by your feet.
along the way i finally saw steven who wasn't at the house or little homeworld where i assumed him to have gone
he was in the near distance talking with three unfamiliar faces, and by the somewhat understandable talking i overheard, he had only just met them
they all looked about our age, the tallest being about the same height as steven with long blond hair that was still visibly damp.
she was dressed in a bikini top and denim shorts, so from what they all wore it was clear they had just been swimming.
the second tallest had a grey blue jumper which reached down past her unseen pants, she was visibly darker than the rest and by far the friendliest looking.
the shortest was extremely stunning and had gorgeous eye catching curls in her short brown hair. she was dressed in a short floral dress which id give anything for despite not being too keen on the style.
whether steven noticed me or not, he payed no attention to my presence and so i did my best to pretend i didn't even see them
