I know what you're thinking. YAY LAPIDOT! Yes. BUT it's my interpretation of the characters in order to create some kind of character depth. So don't kill me.
*TRIGGER WARNING* Mentions of weed, abuse, and non-consensual touching is included in this chapter.
~Lapis's POV~ *Basebal Game*
I came to this game only for the party afterward. And to support Sapphire. I hate being anywhere where I can see Jasper. And it's crowded. I'm sitting next to Peridot who sits next to in my fourth-period class. She's wearing that alien I really like. "Hey Peridot. Nice shirt."
She jumps a little, surprised I'm talking to her. I never do. She always tries to talk to me in class. Even asking "What's your secret" as if I was a spy or something. It used to be kind of annoying but eventually, she gave up.
"Lapis? Uh thanks. What are you even doing here? You're not the social type." She says the last part quietly and crosses her arms.
"Eh. Here for a friend. What about you nerd?" I ask, looking at her green suspenders and black glasses.
"I'm here for Amethyst. She asked me to come after helping out with her homework one day." She looks back down at her phone as if ending the conversation but I decide I want to keep talking.
"I never thought you'd hang with her. Isn't she a little high energy for you?" I ask with a smirk.
"Why would you care?" I just shrug. I can't quite figure out what makes me want to talk to her so much, I'm usually not talkative or social, like she said.
Peridot sighs and rubs her temple. "Lapis are you bipolar or something? All year you ignore me, even if we had to work together in class. I had to fake partner projects and make it look like you put some work into it which you didn't. And at a random game, all of a sudden you want to be all chatty with me? I don't get it."
I just shrug again. "Me neither." She sighs. I really couldn't care less what she thinks of me. Or anyone for that fact. Well, except for maybe Sapphire and Pearl.
"So what are you looking at," I say, leaning over to look at her phone. She backs away and points her phone away. "N-Nothing!"
"Oh come on it isn't gay porn is it?" She looks flustered at my imaginative suggestion.
"No, of course it isn't!" She lays her phone on her lap but the screen is off. I take it and press the power button. "H-hey give that back"
"What's the password," I say, ignoring her.
"7152" She replies slowly. I nod. That was easy to get out of her. I open her phone and look at what her last tab was which makes me snicker.
"Camp Pining Hearts fanfiction?" She tries to grab her phone but I hold it away farther and smirk. "Percy and Pierre" I fain a gasp. "A love story?"
She grabs her phone out of my hands and closes all her tabs quickly and puts her phone in her pocket. A blush hits her face. "It's nothing." The crowd stands up and cheers for our team. Ruby just made a home run. I look at Sapphire and see her smiling and cheering too.
"I must be psychic because I was joking about the gay porn thing," I say looking back at Peridot.
"It wasn't gay porn. Just fluff." She crosses her arms again.
"Still gay," I say. She huffs in response. "But no I watch CPH too." Her eyes light up at this. "You do? Oh my gosh I LOVE that show! Percy and Pierre are obviously the superior couples no doubt."
I think I may have set off a fangirl bomb.
"Have you seen the whole show yet? Percy is meant for Pierre in every way. Percy is adept at aquatic sports. He would have won the canoe race if he weren't so busy drooling over Paulette, and the other part where Percy dives to the bottom of the lake to get Paulette's friendship bracelet proves that he has the largest lung capacity in the entire camp. And Pierre is a force to be reckoned with on land. When he hung Bunk Seven's underwear in the tree, the whole-," I stop her after getting lost.
"Hold up Peridot. Which episode are you talking about? When was there a canoe race?"
She gasps in shock while the crowd stands and cheers again, stopping her from continuing. It looks like the game ended. I see our team cheer and run to hug each other. I guess we won.
"You wanna come with me Peridot? I'm going to the afterparty." Her face scrunches up. "The one at Jasper's place? Didn't you have some problem with her or something last year?" It's at Jasper's? Shit, I really wanted to go out tonight...
"You know what, nevermind." I start my way to head off the bleachers and go find something else to do. Peridot is trailing behind me.
"Well what were you going to do now," she asks.
I sigh. "I don't know. Go sleep maybe?"
"Well do you wanna hang out for a while? We can find something to do or another party to go to. They're all over downtown anyways. If you want." I consider her suggestion. It sounded fun but did I really want to go out with her? I mean I guess it wouldn't hurt. I was having a little fun with her earlier.
"Fine," I agree. Her face lights up. "But I plan on getting fucked up."
"Fine by me. You do you." I nod and glace around. Sapphire was talking to Ruby and Pearl was heading my way.
"What's up Pearl," I ask boredly.
"Sapphire is heading out with Ruby. Were you still going to the party," she questions.
"No, I'm heading out with Peri. You have fun though." She nods. "Okay then. See you tomorrow."
"Bye. Well, Peri. Let's go."
~Peridot's POV~
I did it. I finally got Lapis Lazuli to speak to me! Gosh, she was being such a clod all year by ignoring me but she finally came around!
We're currently in my car quietly making our way downtown. The streets were filled with lights from nightclubs and bars. There were people smoking outside, a couple of drag queens, and suspicious onlookers.
"Pull over here," Lapis states quickly. I pull into a large parking lot near a large building called Monarch. I'm pretty sure this was an "Adult" nightclub. "We're going into here? Isn't this 21 and up?"
She exits the car before answering me. "Nope, we're going through there," she says while pointing to the dark alley NEXT to the building. It looked like the sketchiest alleyway ever. "Lapis I don't think we should..."
She was already walking towards it with her hands in her pockets. I rush after her. What is she thinking? We could get stabbed. Or killed! Or worse, they could steal my phone!"
"Lapis! Seriously where are you going? This is incredibly dangerous," I say catching up to her.
"Relax, I know what I'm doing." At the end of the alley is a door with a slot on it. Literally like the movies. Lapis knocks on it and it opens up. The man on the inside looks at her and then me. I cautiously take a step behind Lapis. I'm not hiding! I'm just protecting her back.
"She's with me," Lapis states.
The door opens and Lapis walks in but I stay put. She looks back with the tiniest smidge of concern but I could be imagining it. "Do you trust me?" her hand is out, waiting for me to grab on.
"You just quoted Aladdin," I say as I reluctantly take her hand. She only smiles at me and pulls me inside. It's a small room with black walls and another big door. Lapis leads me too it. "If you hate the smell of weed you can back out," she comments.
"I think I'll be fine. But Lapis what kind of place is this?"
She opens the door to what I can only describe as a stoner lounge. It had black walls with neon stray painted designs, couches, fluffy chairs, and pillows everywhere. There was a weed dispensary on one wall. Really relaxed music was played in the background (top) and you could see people sitting around with friends just smoking and relaxing. But I'm not so sure about this.
"Lapis is this legal," I ask, following her down the stairs into the pit of weed.
"It's probably is. Weed is legal in this state so I can only assume. But who knows." She sits down on a bean bag chair in one of the secluded areas and looks at me gently. I sit down too across from her.
"So... Do you come here often?" She only nods.
"My sister Aquamarine owns this place. So I come every now and then when things get a little too stressful. Which is often."
"What's stressing you out?" I was curious.
"I'd have to get high to answer that," Lapis states while getting up to heading to the dispensary. "You don't mind right?"
"No." A little.
"Cool," and she goes. I wait for her to come back silently. Why does Lapis need to come to a place like this? Okay well obviously she has her own issues but man they must be pretty rough if she has to get high to feel okay. Should I really be here? My parents don't care if I'm out as long as I tell them I'm out... Do I want to be here? Is this the wisest thing to be doing? I'm totally out of my mind for coming here with her. I barely know her!
"I'm back," Lapis sits down in front of me with weed and some kind of glass bottle.
"What is that? And isn't that bad for you," I ask.
"This," she gestures to the weird bottle. "It's called a bong. And no not really. It's safer than cigarettes and it's non-addictive." She gets the weird glass bottle or bong set up and somehow smokes it? I have no idea what I'm doing here. This all happened so fast. She holds in the smoke for a few seconds before blowing it out, coughing a little. I can see her body physically relax and she leans back in her beanbag.
"You wanna try?" Is she crazy?
"Uh no, I'd rather not... Lapis why did you bring me here?"
"Why did you come?" She retorts, sitting up to look me in the eyes. Her gaze was intense, almost making me blush.
"I- I don't really know. I just want to know more about you. You've been a mystery ever since we met." She takes in another breath of her bong before replying.
"I don't really know either. I don't usually talk to people. Today surprised me. I guess I'm just so tired of being alone and so stuck you know? I've been depressed ever since Jasper beat me and damn near raped me and now I don't know what to do with myself. It's been almost two years. TWO YEARS and I'm still fucked up about this shit. And she feeds off it too. I can tell. She looks at me and enjoys how quiet and broken she's made me." She said this angrily before smoking again and stays quiet.
That.. was a lot to take in. A lot. Jasper beat her? That's not what I heard at all. I thought they broke up because Jasper was caught cheating.
"Lapis? Are you okay?" I scoot closer to her, side by side. She passes me the bottle, which I hold awkwardly, and lays back.
"I'm never okay," she sighs and puts her hands on her face. I hear sniffles. Is she crying? I think she's crying. Emotionless Lapis is crying. I don't know what to do in these kinds of situations.
"Uh there there Lapis," I say as I awkwardly pat her head. She's still crying but sits up to look at me, tear running down her face.
"Uhm, here?" I hold my arms out awkwardly inviting her for a hug. She takes it and leans in.
She holds onto me and cries for a few minutes before letting go.
"So what exactly happened, of you don't mind me asking?"
She grabs her odd smoking device and uses it before starting.
"Back in freshman year, I met her, Jasper. She was a sophomore. She would bring me a flower every morning and smile and tell me how pretty I was. I fell in love with her. The way she'd hug me, the way she'd make me laugh. I felt stronger when I was around her. People would call us a cute couple and even called us Malachite which would be our stupid ship name. It was so good Peridot," she sighs and sniffles again.
"And then something happened. She started hanging out with the wrong people, getting influenced by some older kids. She wanted to be like them. Assholes. She stopped bring me flowers and instead brought me insults. It started off simple. Like saying my joke was stupid or a dress looked bad on me. Then she started telling me that my friends were dumb and I should stop talking to them. Then she started calling me fat and ugly, saying she could do so much better but pitied me. I was so naive. She convinced me that I couldn't do any better than her, so I stayed. I just wanted to feel loved you know? Appreciated. I was so attached to her that I believed all this was a phase and that it'd pass."
"Lapis," I try to speak.
"It gets worse." She grabs the bottle, lights it, blows out and then grabs my hand. I'm surprised but let her hold on. She needs the support.
"She asked me to do things for her. Sexual things. I wasn't so sure but I thought this was her way of coming back to me. Like she finally wanted me again. God, I was so fucking wrong. She would grab me in public, touch me when I didn't want her to. She would always say 'It'll be real quick don't worry.'
"During summer I finally had it and tried to leave her place one night. I grabbed all my stuff there and put it in my bag. When I tried to leave she grabbed me and threw me against a wall. Beat me right then and there. She was trying to take my clothes off...
She takes a deep breath and starts to tear up.
"Lapis... Did Jasper rape you?" I was hesitant but I wanted to be there for her. And I wanted to kill Jasper. That clod disgusts me so much more than she used to. She should be in jail for this!
"...no. She didn't get to it. Her parents came home right before. I ran out the back door and ran home as fast as I could. I never told my parents the truth about what happened that night. Only Sapphire and Pearl know everything. But only recently. I was so shaken by everything that I had a whole mental breakdown. Multiple times. Alone. I turned to weed to help me feel better. Which works but there's only so much weed in the world. Never enough.
"After that summer I came back sophomore year cold and distant. I had no friends all year. My parents had no idea what was wrong with me. They thought I was sad because 'Jasper and I broke up' but they were confused when they saw how long it was lasting. Junior year came around and I became friends with Pearl and Sapphire again. They kinda forced me too after being so fed up with me being lonely all the time." She laughs a little at this, causing me to smile slightly. "I opened up and told them everything. It's still hard. But it's easier now that I have them." She smiles at me.
That was a lot to take in but I could tell she needed it. "Lapis, thank you for sharing so much with me. But why?"
"I have no idea really. I'm probably super high, this shit is strong." She laughs and I do too. "But nah, I guess I like you, Peri. You're pretty cool." She laughs again, trying to lighten the mood. I blush. She's still holding my hand too.
"Th-thanks." I look at her and how laid back she is. Her blue baseball tee and high waisted shorts complimented her dark blue hair. Her tear stained cheeks made her face look puffy but still soft. The low lighting in the room made her look dark but for the first time, I was seeing her in a different light.
"Now you know my life story. Tell me yours."
"Oh, I swear it's not as... "
"Fucked up?"
"Yeah," I respond while rubbing my arm. I completely forgot where we were for a minute. We're in a weed lounge at midnight on a Monday school night.
"I grew up here with my parents. They're pretty chill about things. I like the color green. And aliens. And technology. I consider myself a certified nerd. I don't really know what else. Oh! I just recently became friends with Amethyst. She says I'm hilarious but I'm not really sure what she means. I called her a clod once and she burst out laughing. Which made me angry since it was meant to be an insult. I tried getting in her face once but she's just barely taller than me. I was given the nickname 'Green ball of fury'. Ever since we've been pretty cool I guess."
Lapis looks at me and laughs a little. "Peri, what's a clod?"
"Well you know its a person who is really irritating or annoying or an asshole."
"I've never heard that one before. Is it Greek?"
Greek? I look at her bowl that had the weed in it and see that it's empty. "What? No. Lapis how high are you and how do I fix you?"
"I think I'm high as a flaming kite Periwinkle. I like your hair. It's like a blonde. But not." She basically drops her head in my lap and looks up at my head, playing with my hair.
"Uh, Lapis?"
"Shhhhhhh"
"Lapis it's pretty late. Should I take you home? What time does this place close?" I look around to see the place emptier than it was when we got here but still active.
"My parents won't be home. You'll stay the night right? It could be fun. We could braid hair and eat ice cream like in the movies," She starts to ramble as I get up and stand her up too. I grab the mini backpack she brought with her and we walk out. She can walk fine but gets distracted easily.
"-and we could then cry some more. Hey, look a cat! On a wall." We head towards my car cautiously. Luckily it's not broken into. "And I used to love the ocean but now it reminds me of Jasper and scares me." I sit get Lapis situated in my backseat and make sure her seat belt is on.
"There used to be this swimming contest during the summer. I'd always win. When I was just a itty bitty girl."
"Uh-huh okay Lapis." I look at her through the rear mirror and laugh. "Lapis where do you live?"
"Why do you wanna know periwinkley? To stalk me?"
"No Lapis to take you home."
She ends up telling me then directions and we get there safely. She tries to unlock her door but has a hard time so I do it for her. She leads me to her room and flops on her bed. "Uh Lapis? You gonna be okay?"
She shakes her head. "Will you stay?" She sits up and looks at me with large adorable eyes. I can't resist.
"Ugh fine okay. Where will I sleep?" She pats the bed beside her.
I flush. "Oh. Are you sure?" She only nods her head and lays back down, kicking her shoes off. I take mine off too along with my glasses and suspenders and lay down under the covers with her, keeping my distance. I hear her light snores and chuckle before falling asleep myself.