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"Hey. Peridot. You busy? Was wondering if we could hang out."
Peridot stops in her tracks and looks back. Amethyst stood with her hands in her pockets, lightly kicking the sidewalk where she stood.
"Sure Amethyst. That's fine with you two right?" She says, turning back to Jasper and Lapis.
"Yeah. We'll catch up with you some other time. Jasper and I can just hang out by ourselves." Lapis says.
"All alone." Jasper says, her tone suggesting she was planning for the evening to get (to put it in her words) X rated as fuck. Lapis giggles, picking up on the not so subtle signal. Peridot struggles not to roll her eyes.
"Have fun Peridot!" Lapis says, turning around with Jasper. Jasper grabs hold of her ass before they had even taken five steps, and Lapis giggles again. At this point, Peridot does roll her eyes. She was kind of glad to get away from them. She didn't think she could suffer through any more innuendo or endless PDA today.
She heads over to Amethyst, who leads the way towards the outskirts of town. The beach came into view soon enough. The sun setting turned the water into a beautiful shade of red, broken up by the light reflecting off the waves. Amethyst seemed pretty quiet. She didn't mind. The silence wasn't awkard with her, like it was with others. It was comfortable. Easy. Even though Amethyst usually wasn't this quiet. Peridot briefly wonders why Amethyst wanted to hang out now in particular. But she guesses it doesn't matter. As long as they were together, that was fine. She didn't need to know about the why.
"So uh.... Peridot. Something I've been meaning to talk to you about. Got some stuff I've been wanting to say." Amethyst says finally, standing on the place where dirt started to transition into sand.
"What stuff?" Peridot asks.
"... we've been hanging out a lot. And I don't know what it's like for you but, for me? It's been great. Some of the best times of my life. It means an awful lot to me." Amethyst says. Peridot blushes a bit. Hearing Amethyst say that mean a lot to her. It felt nice to hear that she enjoyed her company, just as Peridot enjoyed her's.
"Thanks for saying that. It's really nice of you to say." Peridot says.
"Yeah but... like, it's more than that. We're friends, but... I guess I was figuring you might think of us as more than that?" Amethyst asks. Peridot's heart skips a beat. She heard that wrong right?
"...more than... friends?" Peridot asks, voice amazingly even compared to the turmoil she had inside her right now. She knew what those words meant. They meant open mouthed kisses, and groping each other in public, and getting naked with each other, and touching each other. It meant all those things she always felt weird picturing herself doing with other people, no matter who they were.
"Yeah. I mean, we're really close. I always feel like we're kind of, in sync. I just, think it's a disservice to say what we have is JUST friendship."
Peridot feels a bit light heated. This was happening. She didn't think Amethyst thought of her like that. Everything was going to change now wasn't it. She was going to have to explain that she didn't care about that stuff. She would probably not want to hang out with her anymore after being rejected. She was going to lose her...
Or was she? She didn't HAVE to lose her right? She didn't have to reject her either. Peridot considers doing that stuff with Amethyst. She thinks she could do without the ass grabbing in public. But the other stuff? With Amethyst it could be different right? Amethyst understood her better than most. She felt comfortable around Amethyst. If it was her, she could do it. If it made her happy. If it brought them closer.
Before she knows what's she's doing, she lunges forward and closes the gap between her and Amethyst. Their lips collide. Peridot feels her teeth smash into her lip as a result, but it doesn't feel like it's cut or anything. She isn't sure what's she's doing on multiple levels. She isn't sure why she's kissing her. And she isn't sure how to kiss her. But that doesn't matter much in the end. Because very quickly she feels Amethyst push her away. She looses her balance and falls over, landing hard on her ass. She looks up in confusion. She wasn't expecting that. She thought Amethyst would reciprocate. Wasn't that what they were talking about? From the look on her face, it wasn't. She looks angry. Betrayed almost.
"I knew it. I KNEW you wouldn't understand. Why did I even bother?" She barks. She turns on her heel and storms off. Peridot is left on the ground, reeling from what had just happened. In the last few seconds she had gone from receiving a confession from Amethyst, to kissing Amethyst, to being pushed on the ground in anger by Amethyst. She was barely capable of grasping even one of these things, let alone all three back to back. She couldn't for the life of her fathom what she had done wrong.
She scrambles to her feet and runs after her.
"Wait! Stop please. I don't understand what's wrong." Peridot says. Amethyst snaps around suddenly, forcing Peridot to skid to a stop in her tracks, or run right into her.
"What's WRONG is that I thought I could open up to you. Talk to you. Like a person. But talking is never enough apparently. It's always got to be something else you're looking for." Amethyst says.
"What? I don't understand. I thought you wanted me to kiss you? That's what this was about right?" Peridot asks.
"No! I don't want that! Not from you, not from anyone. But apparently nobody cares about you if that's not what they're getting. It's not about friends, it's all about who's fucking right? Well you're not getting any from me, so just move on to the next bitch, and leave me alone!" Amethyst shouts, turning away again.
Peridot stands there for a moment, once again trying to process what has just happened. She thought she was only with her for sex? Why would she think that? Why was she so angry about it? This couldn't have come from nowhere. She obviously went through a scenario like this before.
Then suddenly something Amethyst said clicked. 'I don't want that! Not from you, not from anyone.' She didn't want it. She didn't NEED it.
She was like her.
"AMETHYST!" Peridot calls after her, stumbling into a full blown sprint to catch up with her. Amethyst starts striding faster. She doesn't stop to confront her like last time. Peridot struggles to catch her. She wasn't in shape. After just a few second she was already panting. But she wasn't too far off. She rushes out in front of her to block her path.
"Did I stutter or something? I said leave me alone!" Amethyst says.
"Amethyst. *Pant* Please. *Pant* I'm sorry. *Wheeze* I only did that, because I thought it's what you wanted. Everyone around me always seems so obsessed with that stuff. I always thought it was silly. I was never interested in it. But, I really like you. When you were confessing your feelings, I assumed that's what you were looking for. And I decided that, if it was with you, I would be fine doing that stuff." Peridot speaks quickly, afraid that if she paused, Amethyst would just interrupt or storm off again. She was probably hard to understand, winded as she was. By the time she runs out of things at the forefront of her mind to say, Amethyst had not ran off. She looked at Peridot with surprise, but seemed to be listening intently. She made no indication that she was going to speak up. So Peridot continues.
"When you said you didn't want me to kiss you just now. That you didn't want anyone like that. I felt... like I could relate to that. Like I wasn't alone. I always thought there might be something wrong with me. But, if you feel that way too then... please. Forgive me. I shouldn't have done what I did. I don't want to lose you over this. Especially now that I know you're like me."
Amethyst looks at her for a minute. He face was void of expression. After a few seconds of awkward silence, she speaks up.
"You really do understand. Don't you?"
Peridot nods.
Amethyst smiles, then lunges forward and wraps her arms around her. Peridot stiffens at the sudden movement, but quickly finds joy in the warmth of Amethyst's hug, and the knowledge that she didn't hate her. That their friendship wasn't over.
"So, everything you said. That confession?" Peridot asks, a little unsure what it all meant if Amethyst wasn't looking for sex.
"It wasn't about getting into your pants. But I meant every word." Amethyst says.
"Well... I haven't had any time to eloquently word my feelings. But... I just want you to know that your support has meant so much to me. And that I always look forward to spending time with you. You're one of the most important people in my life." Peridot says.
"I still can't believe you get it. You ACTUALLY get it. I feel like I've been waiting my whole life to meet someone who understands." Amethyst says.
"I am so glad I've found you." Peridot says.
"Right back at you 'dot!" Amethyst chuckles.