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The room is starting to spin and Gem’s losing her footing.
Jimmy doesn’t help her stability.
She’s only just met up with him after hanging with Etho and Cleo for a majority of the party. When Etho abandoned her for Bdubs and Cleo left to take care of a stumbling False trying to make her way to the bathroom, Jimmy talked to her for the first time tonight.
Unfortunately, Jimmy wasn’t in a festive mood. In fact, Gem thinks he just got back from bawling his eyes out.
“Jimmy?” She asks when his eyes begin welling up with tears again. She’s not stable enough for this and she’s looking around the room to see who she can deposit him off to.
“I should’ve never talked to Pearl!” Jimmy cries out, wrapping his arms around her in a hug. Gem stumbles back and they hit a wall, but she reciprocates nonetheless.
While patting his shoulder and shushing him, she scans the party for a hint of Pearl, though she can only assume Pearl is the culprit behind this latest Jimmy meltdown. She doesn’t see Pearl anywhere with her arms full of Jimmy.
Gem has to push Jimmy away from her and she feels a wet spot on her shoulder from his tears. She grimaces at the feeling but doesn’t dwell on it for long, too drunk to truly care. She feels her hand sticky from where she must’ve spilled some of her drink during their impromptu hug. That’s another thing to add to his tab.
“What is happening!?” Gem shouts over the music. From one second to the next, she says hi to Jimmy, and then he hugs her, sobbing. What on earth had Pearl done?
“I can never talk to Scott and/or Tango again!” Jimmy declares. He grabs her by the shoulders and Gem realizes he’s trying to keep from tipping over. At least he’s also keeping her upright, which she appreciates. She should know by now never to play beer pong with a professional like Etho because losing over and over again isn’t good for her liver.
“Why?”
“Because of Pearl!”
“What the hell did Pearl do!?”
“It’s not what she did!” Jimmy looks around the room like Pearl’s going to pop up out of nowhere. She might, truthfully. “It’s what I told her.”
Gem doesn’t get it. “Did you tell her a secret or something?”
“I told her my most guarded secret!” Jimmy looks like he’s about to start crying again, which is getting increasingly alarming. “I told her I like Scott! Or Tango, I don’t remember!”
Gem rolls her eyes. That’s been the most talked about “secret” for ages now! And that’s what Jimmy’s crying about?
“I think Pearl knows already, Jimmy—” Gem tries to reassure him, but Jimmy interrupts her.
“No, you don’t get it! She said I should tell him and it sounds like a good idea. The more I think about it, the more I want to do it but I don’t know which one I should find!” Jimmy looks distraught despite his words.
Gem tilts her head. “Huh!? What’s so bad about that?”
Instead of answering her, Jimmy’s eyes welled up with tears again. He tries to slump down against the wall but Gem picks him back up. “Oh no, okay. We’ve got to find Pearl…” She mumbles to herself.
She looks out to the sea of people. False is still with Cleo, though Joe and Keralis have joined them. She finds Scar, but that’s not the tall brunette she’s looking for. Xisuma’s with Grian… Martyn and Ren are bartending… Where on earth is Pearl?
Her eyes land on Tango and Scott talking in a corner, their faces close together as if they didn’t want others to hear. Well, shit! Definitely shouldn’t let the hysterical Jimmy see that one. Gem’s about to give up on her search and send Jimmy to bed when she catches sight of Pearl walking out of one of the bathrooms.
Yes! Oh, she’s good at this!
And oh, oh man. She’s just as beautiful as the last time they found each other at a party.
Gem drags Jimmy by the arm over to Pearl. She starts to greet Pearl with a smile but Pearl reaches out for Gem’s bicep when Jimmy trips over his shoes, almost knocking them both over. Pearl grasps her skin only for a moment, likely just to catch her footing after Jimmy slammed into her, but Gem’s frozen in place by the movement.
It’s so familiar, just like all the other times they do this. Gem is instantly transported back to the last party they got together at. She’s blushing before she can shake the memories from her mind.
Pearl lets go of her almost as quickly as she had grabbed on, but Gem doesn’t scoot away. Not when Pearl asks, “Jimmy, are you crying!?”
“No!” Jimmy lies.
Pearl turns to face her, their shoulders brushing momentarily. This time, Gem makes it a point to inch towards her. “He was totally crying. He thinks he told you some crazy secret,” Gem informs, to which Pearl throws her head back and laughs.
“He thinks the Scott/Tango stuff is top secret? Oh, that’s golden even for drunk Jimmy!” Pearl howls, turning to Gem again. “How did you get mixed up in all this? I left him when he promised he was going to find Tango. Or Scott, I don’t remember.”
“He came over to me crying! He hugged me in a panic and everything but I think he’s prepared now!” Jimmy looks like he’s mostly calmed down, only sniffing occasionally. “Do we send him over to the guys now?”
Pearl nods in agreement, but she gasps suddenly and grasps them both by the arm. She takes them over to a more secluded area and Gem flushes at how easily Pearl maneuvers them. Damn her drinks for giving her a wild imagination!
Not that wild, if she doesn’t have to imagine anything, but…
Pearl leans closer to say something into her ear, something she clearly doesn’t want Jimmy to hear. Pearl’s lips accidentally brush the edge of her jaw before going to her ear, her breath warm when she says, “Do you see what I see?”
Gem has no idea what she just said. She nods anyway, hoping that’s the right reaction.
Pearl doesn’t move away, adding, “If he notices, he’ll flip. What do we do?”
Her words actually registered in Gem’s mind this time. She moves her head slightly up to where Pearl’s line of sight is and realizes she’s watching Tango and Scott talk. Gem glances back at Jimmy—staring at the wall and drawing shapes with his finger. He’s distracted for now. Enough time to come up with a plan.
She knows just the solution!
Gem pushes away from the wall and declares, “Drinks for courage! I’ll be right back!”
Now, she doesn’t know if the drinks are for her or Jimmy. She doesn’t get why she’s… burning alive from the inside by the feel of it. It’s been five minutes since they’ve started talking. This is insane even by her standards! She’s always drawn to Pearl, almost naturally, but the thought of having her again (even if just for tonight) is making her go a little crazy.
She’s always a little crazy for Pearl, but damn. Her head feels like it’s spinning as she stomps to the bar.
Ren and Martyn are engaged with something Impulse is saying and Gem nearly shoves her teammate. She slams her hand down on the counter that Ren and Martyn are operating on and hollers, “I need three drinks, ASAP! We’re narrowly avoiding a crisis here people!”
Martyn gets a determined look on his face and salutes her. “On it, boss!”
Impulse yelps when Martyn brings out a bottle bigger than her head that smells rancid. All the words are in Italian and while she should be asking how strong it is, she doesn’t care enough to find out. She’ll leave something for tomorrow Gem to worry about. Current Gem wants to get back to Pearl.
Martyn doesn’t pour much of the bottle into whatever he’s mixing up for her, but Impulse puts a hand out to stop her before she grabs the three red solo cups. “Dude, you’re going to be so fucked up tomorrow!”
She grins at Impulse. “Maybe. But I can worry about that after I’ve made all my bad decisions.”
Gem takes the drinks from Martyn, winking at Impulse as he looks around the party for any clue on what she is talking about. He’s definitely going to ask her about this in the morning but she can figure out what to tell him then. Right now, she’s got friends to take care of.
She hands the first cup to Jimmy, then holds the second cup out to Pearl. Pearl reaches out to take the cup from her and their fingers touch, Pearl’s hand lingering for a second too long. Neither of them rush to move, but when Pearl eventually does, Gem mourns the loss.
The three of them clink their plastic cups together and take a sip. It’s absolutely disgusting but Gem keeps drinking anyway.
She forgets why they were all together in the first place until Jimmy takes a deep breath. “One more sip and I’m going in.”
“I don’t think you want to—” Pearl tries to warn but Jimmy’s already knocking back the rest of his drink. “...Alright, you do that then.”
He didn’t quite finish his drink, but he set the cup on the ground and braced himself for what was to come. “I will now find Scott or Tango.”
Gem and Pearl begin clapping for him, and Gem cheers, “Hell yeah, buddy! Go get your man!”
Jimmy shines one last grin at them before disappearing into the sea of people, and it’s just Gem and Pearl standing together. She half expects Pearl to return to whatever she’d been doing before, but instead, she turns to face her.
“I don’t think I’ve seen you this entire night! What have you been up to?” Pearl asks, her eyes curious and locked on hers.
Gem looks away immediately, too embarrassed by her reddening cheeks. She could blame it on the strong drink but she thinks Pearl could see right through her. She wonders what else Pearl might think about her.
She’s curious to see if she can say all the right things with Pearl, to see if the haze of the party will get to her like all those times before. She wants to find out if she’s thinking all the same things Gem is thinking, or if Gem’s alone in her neediness.
Pearl knows all about how needy Gem can be. Her low-cut top does nothing to hide the blush that’s reached the top of her chest but she can see the flush mirrored on Pearl’s cheeks. She might be able to play it cool for a bit but she wants Pearl’s gaze to drift downward, for her every thought to be consumed by Gem, even if just for tonight.
It’s always just for the night.
What was Pearl’s question again?
“Uh…” She racks her brain and it hits her. “I’ve been drinking.”
Pearl snorts, leaning against the wall with just her shoulder. Damn it, she looks cool like that. Gem presses her back to the wall but angles her head just so. Pearl can see her face and how perfect her hair came out tonight. Gem can see all of Pearl. She bites back a smile at the thought.
“We’ve all been drinking, mate,” Pearl laughs. “I wish I’d found you earlier; Scott’s had me pretty busy. I’m beginning to think he was keeping me from you.”
Gem’s brain short circuits. “Oh, really?” She doesn’t wait for an answer. She raises her cup full of nightmare juice and takes a sip, making careful work to lick her lips after so she doesn’t spill anything down the front of her shirt.
She looks back up at Pearl, who’s suddenly interested in her shoes. Agh, Gem, flirt back! Before she leaves!
“Everyone’s love life has been pretty crazy, hasn’t it?” Gem twirls a strand of hair around her finger as Pearl watches her movement. It works on Pearl every time she tries it and she doesn’t expect to fail tonight.
Pearl’s eyes light up, glancing around them before leaning closer to Gem. “Do you want to hear the funniest thing I’ve heard tonight?”
Gem doesn’t respond verbally, but she widens her eyes and moves toward her. Pearl doesn’t take any steps back.
“I was going to the bar when I overheard Keralis, X, and Scar talking about Grian,” Pearl continues. “Apparently, Scar’s jealous of Mumbo! Of all people!”
That startles a laugh out of her, mostly because Pearl seems to think it’s hilarious. Gem lifts a hand to cover her mouth, but she slowly drags it down her chest until her hand rests on her stomach. She watches Pearl’s eyes travel with the motion.
Her plan is working.
She tries to remember what Jimmy told her about Grian and Scar so she can keep up the conversation. “Jimmy was asking me about them a while back! He thinks they might be dating already but that’s just what Impulse told him.”
Pearl’s eyes widened with laughter, even if what Gem said wasn’t particularly funny. “My god, everyone’s a mess! If even Mumbo’s involved then it’s getting pretty hairy out there.”
Gem lowers her voice so Pearl has to be closer to hear her. “It’s a good thing we’re over here then, isn’t it?”
The truth is her love life can get complicated too.
Pearl isn’t the only person that Gem’s gotten down with, but she’s the one who scares her the most. She’s the one who makes Gem wonder if they can last for more than one night, the only one who pushes Gem to stay the night and eat pancakes in the morning.
It’s far from the first time they play this game: one finds the other alone and unoccupied, and once they’re reminded of how much they like each other, one thing leads to the next.
Gem is the one who said she didn’t want to take things further, and Pearl seems okay with that. She hasn’t said anything to make her believe the contrary at least, that maybe she wants her like Gem might want her.
That’s terrifying.
Her past relationships have never lasted long, yet they all move on to new partners soon after leaving her. The WNBA player she dated for a little over a year broke up with her to focus on her career, which would be fair if she didn’t get a new girlfriend two weeks later. Then the Shade E-Es mechanic Bdubs introduced her to left when his ex moved back into town. The mechanic’s best friend slid into her DMs soon after that but even the best friend (who wanted her first!) couldn’t find a reason to stay, so that ended after a solid eleven months.
And in between it all is Pearl, who would undoubtedly also find a reason to break up with her sooner or later. So she’d rather not deal with the complicated stuff, no matter how bad she may want to make this an exclusive thing.
If everyone’s left her before, there’s no way Pearl won’t. At least this way there are no breakups and fighting involved.
Did Martyn put introspection juice in her drink? She lifts the cup and takes another sip, barely holding down a gag when the rancid taste hits her tongue. She moves the cup and forces a sweet smile like it didn’t burn her throat the whole time she swallowed.
Pearl’s about to open her mouth to say something but then her jaw drops, spotting something just past Gem. Gem whips around to where her line of sight went and spots Jimmy on some stairs, crying by himself.
“Why is he crying alone over there?” Gem scoffs, and she turns back to Pearl with a laugh.
Pearl looks like she’s trying not to laugh, but it only lasts a moment before she giggles, pressing her face to the top of Gem’s hair to hide her laugh. Gem can feel her smile and she swears there’s a ghost of an inhale before Pearl steps away, looking back to Jimmy.
“I feel like I sort of created this mess. I should probably go fix this.” Pearl doesn’t look happy about having to leave, but she’s laughing all the same.
“Find me again?”
It’s a simple request, but Gem paired her words with a small tilt of her head, a parting of her lips, and big, hopeful eyes staring up at Pearl. It’s a look she knows Pearl can’t resist and her ulterior motives are clear.
Are we going to do this again?
Pearl’s smile splits her face. “Stay where I can see you. I’ll be back.”
She watches Pearl return to the bar, saying something to Ren as the latter glances at her. Gem looks away quickly, biting her lip as she searches for something to do. Pearl walks away with two shots and a bottle of water. She can see that Scar’s joined Jimmy now and she’s got half a mind to drag Pearl back to her. She should act like she’s doing something so she’s not embarrassed when Pearl comes back to her.
Gem wanders over to Bdubs, who’s surprisingly missing Etho. He’s drinking some seltzer but he looks happy to see her.
“You know, Etho took off from me earlier because he was looking for you!” Gem reprimands when she gets closer, swatting his arm like it was truly his fault.
Bdubs laughs at that, pointing out where Etho’s taking a video of Mumbo and False using TV remotes as microphones to sing the song playing through the comically large speaker. Impulse is off to the side but he’s clapping his hands in encouragement.
She loves Lizzie’s birthday.
Gem doesn’t stick to Bdubs for that long, but it feels like it takes
ages
for Pearl to get through the crowd once Joel stops the party to make a toast to Lizzie. He goes on forever complimenting his wife, which normally wouldn’t be an issue, but Gem’s got things to do!
They make eye contact over Bdub’s head, and finally, they reunite after everyone’s taken a drink in Lizzie’s honor.
“What ended up happening with Jimmy?” Gem asks, just to ease them back into the mood from earlier. Jimmy almost killed the momentum but they always find their way back to each other.
Pearl sighs exasperatedly. “He definitely wasn’t going to have that extra shot I had. I gave it to Scar and dumped Jimmy on a concerned Impulse. Look, he’s right there.”
She points to Jimmy leaning against Impulse, who looks at them with interest. Gem winces. He’ll ask her about this when they get over their hangovers tomorrow afternoon and it won’t be a fun conversation. It’ll be another instance of him saying she should take the leap and her pushing back, afraid that Pearl will leave too, confident it’ll ruin everything good they have now.
Impulse narrows his eyes at her; even in her inebriated state, she can feel him chastising her from here. She breaks eye contact and looks back up at Pearl with a bright smile that she knows Pearl loves.
Gem nearly forgets she’s supposed to be laughing at Jimmy. She has to glance back at him to see what he’s doing to keep Pearl from seeing inside her mind.
Oh, and Pearl reads her perfectly. Not even just in bed, which she too does extremely well. She can pick up on her frustrated sighs and annoyed glares just as well as her body when they inevitably fall into bed together. It would be maddening if Gem didn’t love that someone could dote on her and show her the care she’s been missing from every relationship she’s ever had.
Pearl understands her and works her as meticulously as she does her car, and that scares her to death.
She stares at Pearl, watching how her hair catches the light. Maybe one day when they’re old, she’ll tell her all about the crush she harbored in their twenties. For now, having Pearl one night at a time will have to do.
Amidst her staring, Pearl’s eyebrows suddenly crinkle in concern at her lack of words. Gem’s heart drops and she rushes to say, “He’s so fucking gone, oh my god!”
She can tell when Pearl’s drunk mind forgets what she was worried about in the first place. “Whatever was in that last drink you gave us properly did it for me. If my whole world wasn’t shaking before, it is now!”
Yeah, well Gem knocked back one too many candy shots with Joel earlier, so she’s been pretty gone for a good chunk of the night. Unfortunately, Joel has great taste in alcohol and the drinks were amazing, which leads her to…
“We always make the ground shake, this shouldn’t be too different from that.” Gem winks for some reason. It sounded like a lame attempt at flirting even as it left her lips but Pearl’s eyes widened. There’s a hint of pink beginning to dust across her nose.
Pearl clears her throat, Gem can barely hear it, but she’s attuned to everything Pearl does. “That’s one way to put it.”
If Impulse could hear her now, he’d be tearing his hair out.
“Do you think Jimmy’s actually going to tell Scott and/or Tango?” Thinking of Impulse reminded Gem of the situation they had on their hands. She was also desperate to change the subject before she could get called out on her bad pick-up lines.
Pearl hums, scooting closer to her. The tips of their shoes are touching and Gem can feel the brush of Pearl’s thin sweater against her arm every time she shifts. It drives her insane, the rational part of her brain clouded by the flowery scent of Pearl’s perfume. She wants to inhale it until she’s suffocating.
“I don’t see why not,” Pearl shrugs. “I think it’s very brave of him if he does.”
“The way I see it…” Gem blinks as if that’ll clear her mind. She can feel she’s getting dangerously close to saying something she shouldn’t. Drunk at a party is not the place for that. “Never mind.”
Pearl perks up at that. “What?” When Gem doesn’t respond, she nudges her again.
“I can’t even see straight!” She can feel the slur in her words as her brain gets heavier. Maybe that’s just her excuse. “We can see how Jimmy does tomorrow!”
“And…” Pearl gets closer, impossibly so. “How is tonight going to go?”
Gem swallows. “How it always goes.”
When Pearl smiles, Gem’s heart does that little flutter she hates. It goes against every defense she’s put up, all crumbling down over nothing. Nothing but a pretty smile and Pearl’s laugh, so contagious that it makes her sick to her stomach. She swallows a lump in her throat and takes another sip of her drink to wash it down. She winces at the burn.
“Have you eaten?” Pearl asks suddenly, squinting at her through the fog.
Wait, fog?
She wants to dissect Pearl’s concern a little more, but the floor is slowly becoming smoky and Mumbo’s letting out a loud whoop. He sounds happy and while nobody’s screaming about a fire, Pearl leads her closer to the commotion from the bar area anyway.
“Look what I found in the garage!” Mumbo’s showing off a remote in his hands, stepping aside to let everyone else see his discovery.
“Get that fog machine out of here!” Martyn shouts. “I can’t see what I’m pouring anymore!”
The two begin to go back and forth, Mumbo’s main defense being that no one knew what they were drinking in the first place. Gem turns to Pearl, laughing, “He’s got a point about that!”
Pearl shakes her head, a hand on Gem’s lower back as they go to the living room area. The couches cleared up with the fog machine chaos, which Gem is ever grateful for. The room is no longer spinning quite as violently and there’s no blurriness every time she blinks as they sit.
“God, I needed this!” Gem kicks her feet onto the couch, leaning into Pearl’s space when Pearl puts an arm around her shoulders. They sit for at least ten minutes, pointing out the funny things their friends are doing. It’s cool,
casual
, and Gem feels like Pearl’s staked a claim on her.
Which is ridiculous. They’re just chilling on the couch, but False grins at them and doesn’t get much closer. Either their friends know them well enough not to kill their moment, or… Or…
“Should I tell Lizzie to come sit with us?” Gem tests, a smile playing on her lips. She can predict Pearl’s response before she’s even turned to her.
“I think we’re okay for now. Look, she’s turning on the TV.”
Lizzie ended up navigating to YouTube per Joel’s request. She put on a karaoke video and now Joel and Scott were singing a rendition of some song she didn’t recognize, but it hurt her ears all the same.
Hadn’t they gotten all the singing done earlier?
Oh, wait, no! Not Scott!
“Jimmy didn’t do it! Look!” Gem points to Tango standing off to the side, leaning against the wall, and watching the duo sing. Jimmy’s nowhere to be found. She rolls her eyes and nuzzles her cheek into Pearl’s shoulder. “I can’t believe him!”
“What do you think he’s scared of?” Pearl asks, and it sounds awfully similar to her earlier question.
Gem pauses. She thinks she’s walked into a trap she can’t wink her way out of, but she wants to sink her feet into the quicksand and let it slowly consume her. Maybe it’s her drinks talking, maybe it’s because Jimmy’s technically the topic, but she can’t find a reason to push back against Pearl this time.
She usually freaks out when she feels Pearl trying to have the “what are we” talk, but it’s not that scary this time.
Definitely the drinks talking.
Gem shrugs. “Rejection. All the things that could go wrong. All the things that will go wrong.”
“What if…” Pearl glances at Tango. “What if Tango and/or Scott want to take that risk? That they’d rather… be with Jimmy than never even try?”
Jimmy’s nowhere to be found. Gem wishes she had a distraction now. “I think Jimmy would rather keep things the way they are now. If it’s good, why ruin everything?”
“Who said it has to ruin everything?” Pearl’s closer to her now, their noses brushing, and Gem’s dizzy all over again. “I don’t think it will.”
“I’ve ruined everything!”
Gem’s barely catching her breath when something (no, someone) plops down in between her and Pearl. It’s impressive, considering there isn’t much space between them, but Jimmy’s sinking into the cushions and crying again. Pearl’s forced to move her arm.
“Look at them!” Jimmy points to Scott still singing and Tango jamming to his awful voice. “They’re going to unionize against me!”
“Jimmy, I don’t think you know what that means…” Gem trails off, but Pearl stands and brings Jimmy with her.
His arm is wrapped around Pearl’s shoulder, and he’s barely standing. He stumbles when Pearl takes half a step and Gem suspects he drank more during their separation.
Gem rolls her eyes and groans. “Jimmy, I’m going to murder you!”
Pearl giggles and offers her free arm to assist Gem to her feet. “What? Did you have a hot date later or something?”
“Or something,” Gem winks, standing with a wince. Getting to rest her feet was nice. She wraps Jimmy’s other arm around her shoulder and helps Pearl get him walking.
It works to clear her mind. She can feel her awareness slowly coming back to her as they drag Jimmy towards the stairs, and the realization of what she and Pearl were talking about hits her square in the chest. It’s enough to make her stumble and, of course, Pearl takes note.
“You okay?” Pearl asks.
Jimmy mistakes her concern and nods. “Yup. Where are we going?”
Gem blinks to steady herself, focusing on getting to the stairs in one piece. “You’re cut off, dude! It’s time to get to bed, you’re about to cause a scene.”
Jimmy’s face is illuminated by the lights, looking extra rough. He’s clearly been crying since god knows when, his eyes red and lip still trembling even as they get further away from Scott and Tango. It’s a miracle he’s managed to get this far in life when he’s such a mess, but that can be said for just about everyone in this room. They’re all lucky they can drive their respective cars so damn well.
Getting up the stairs is hard work, considering she and Pearl are only barely starting to sober up and Jimmy’s dead weight. They manage to do so with only some stubbed toes and Jimmy stepping on Pearl once, and they’re so frustrated they contemplate leaving him in the bathroom.
“Scott and/or Tango will kill us if they find out we left him in a bathtub all night,” Gem points out, and she gestures to the door closest to them. “Who wants to be the hero and check if Etho and Bdubs have infiltrated that room?”
They inch closer to the door, pressing their ears against the wood. When they don’t hear anything that would make them want to gouge their ears out, Pearl braces and swings the door open.
She leaves Jimmy balancing on Gem as she examines the room, but a loud gasp nearly makes Gem drop Jimmy. Maybe they were wrong after all, but she still doesn’t hear anything.
“What is it!?” Gem attempts to see what Pearl sees but Jimmy’s weight is starting to bear down on her. One glance and she realizes he’s dozing off, which would be great if he wasn’t using Gem as his personal pillow.
“Grian and Scar are in here!” Pearl’s laughing and she moves closer to the bed, only tripping on someone’s shoes once.
Gem gasps too, and she’s lugging Jimmy over. As she gets closer she can see two figures sleeping facing each other. She wrinkles her nose when she notices how close they are, averting her eyes.
“Ew, do they have clothes on?!” Gem’s struggling to keep Jimmy up. Pearl notices and retakes Jimmy’s other side, Gem standing straight up again with relief.
Pearl helps her lead Jimmy to the pair. “They’re clothed but definitely got up to some funny business. Grian’s neck is wrecked.”
Gem would rather not check to confirm, but an idea pops into her mind when Grian shifts closer to Scar with a groan.
“Help me get Jimmy on the bed.” Gem doesn’t wait for Pearl to process her instructions, already pushing Jimmy onto the other side of Grian.
He flops onto the bed with his eyes closed, already sufficiently asleep. He flips onto his side, pressing his back against Grian’s, and promptly begins snoring. Wow, it really didn’t take long for that to happen.
“We did it!” Gem high-fives Pearl with a grin, stepping back from her masterpiece. Jimmy looks comfortable enough and if he still has his shoes on, oh well. That serves him right! He took up way too much of her night!
They leave the room without care for the noise they make, especially when Gem trips over some shoes too. Pearl steadies her with an arm around her waist and they walk out pressed up against each other.
Pearl gestures to a room across the hall that seems isolated enough, save for Keralis walking out of the bathroom. He glances at them with a twinkle in his eyes but heads downstairs all the same, leaving them alone.
Again.
“Shall we…?”
Gem grabs Pearl by the hand and leads her to the room. “Let’s go, baby.”