Chapter Text
I looked in despair as hordes of people kept trickling into Starbucks. It was rush hour, yes, but this one was even more rush and even more hour than usual. The students have started returning to Beach City from their vacations, although the classes weren’t starting properly for two more weeks. I wasn’t used to this much demand(especially on a Monday), as I only started working after all the students had already left the town. Even with all the training to put a bit of a smile, I couldn’t make my face do anything but a blank. All the faces of the students sort of combined into one by now, and writing their names wrong intentionally became less fun when I couldn’t even remember them out of sheer exhaustion.
That’s why I almost missed seeing her, even though her triangle pointy beach-blonde hair was completely out of place and easy to remark. She hadn’t even ordered anything yet, but was typing something on her damn phone like her eyes were fused to the screen. Ugh, I hated serving this girl. She was the pretentious type - always in a hipster clothes combination, piercings around her eyes, nose, one even on her lower lip, and always ordering the same thing. I had no problem with that, but the girl accented it with five minutes of phone-typing-time, followed by even more pretentious consideration of the menu which always lead to the shrill proclamation she wished a venti latte macchiato and for me to „Get my name right this time, CLOD! It’s P-e-r-i-d-o-t! That’s simple enough for a clod like you to get!
I took my time with her order, thinking of what I was going to write in instead of her name. After mentally crossing out Palid, Percy, Pudat and Pilar(since I used them already at least once), the name Plyboh came to my mind suddenly, as if Lady Luck smiled upon me.
With the perfect name written on the cup and a couple of stylized unsavory images right beside it, I handed it to the annoying girl, giving her a fake smile. However, instead of yelling at me like she used to, she smiled at me like she unearthed a secret and said: „Wow, thanks!” before paying for the coffee and leaving. It left me a bit shocked. Her tantrums were amusing to observe, which was a part of why I always liked to misspell her name. This new reaction of hers was weird, but I didn’t have time to dwell on it. There were about a dozen other people to serve before I could hang up my apron and go, so I busied myself with that.
Peridot didn’t come to the Starbucks I worked in for two weeks, when before she used to come twice a week exactly when I had the day shift. I was almost beginning to think she wasn’t going to come again, so I diverted my thoughts to „how will I manage to get all my stuff from my house to the little place I rented so I could be closer to the college”. I’d probably have to ask Steven and his family for help.
When she finally came, right as the rush hour ended, I was almost more surprised by her appearing than with the fact her weird behavior continued. She asked politely for her order immediately, no phone typing in sight, and waited with patience I never thought I’d see in her.
-
I had some time to think of some misspelled names for her while she wasn’t coming, so I immediately reached to write Poutine on the cup. The moment I started doing that, though, something... pulled at my fingers, bending them its to will until the finished product was Peridot with a <3 written below it. What the hell? There was no way I’d write that on the cup. It was a mistake - it must have been.
I tried writing Poutine on another cup. And another. And another. All three times, a Peridot and a <3 would appear on the cup I was writing on.
„Got any problems there, Lazuli?” asked the girl, her voice saccharine sweet. She must have had something to do with this, but I couldn’t do much about it now.
„Everything is fine.” I replied as I finished her order and gave it to her.
„Here you go! One venti latte machiatto, as usual. Thank you for ordering here at Starbucks and come again!” I made sure to seem as neutral as possible.
With one look at the cup, the annoying girl broke into such a big smile I wondered how it still fit on her face.
„Wow, thanks! This sure is a nice cup, and look at this cure little heart emoticon! I didn’t know you valued me so highly, Lazuli!”
„I don’t, Peridot.”
„Oh, don’t say that, Lazuli.” She gave me a light punch on my shoulder, barely reaching enough to do so with how small she was. „In fact, I think this little gift of yours was so great, I might just buy you a cup of coffee myself! How about that, eh?”
Wow. That was unexpected. Not many people would just offer me... anything. It was very Steven-like, who would just give everything he could to help someone. I wanted to take her up on the offer.
„No.” I replied. No reason not to make Peridot sweat a bit.
„W-WHAT?” she shrieked, the happy expression on her face replaced by shock. Worth it. „This makes no sense. What is wrong with you? Who in their right mind wouldn’t accept a free cup of coffee?”
„I would.”
„You wo- wait what?”
„I said I would accept a free cup of coffee.” The joke was already done so I didn’t need to pretend for more than I already did. Besides, the happy expression suited Peridot more anyway. „I’ll go make myself some iced coffee. It’s gonna cost you 15 bucks.”
There weren’t any more customers waiting, so I went into the back room and got off my work clothes. As I put them in my locker, I heard Peridot laughing so loud, if I hadn’t seen already she was barely 5 feet tall I’d have thought she was much, much taller. She sure couldn’t do anything quietly.
It took me just a minute to prepare my iced coffee(it was still pretty hot in Beach City) in the back room. When I returned and deposited the money in the register, Peridot’s happy face was back on.
„You’re done with your shift? Perfect. Where do you live? I can drop you off if it’s on my way.”
„That’s pretty generous of you.” Kindness from a total stranger was not something I was used to. Well, Peridot wasn’t really a total stranger, and I did have to transport my things somehow. I didn’t really want to ask Steven for another favor.
„I’ve been called the soul of generosity, thank you very much!”
„Uh-huh. And what do you get out of doing this?”
Peridot seemed to think a bit before replying: „I get to meet the stubborn barista who kept writing my name wrong all summer long! Seriously, it’s been annoying as fuck whenever I had to order from you and you kept misspelling it every single time.”
I laughed lightly, remembering when I first saw Peridot order something, and right on my first day of work. „Help me with my stuff then and drop me off at Gem Street 4 and I’ll answer any questions you might have.”
She looked at me questioningly. „Gem Street 4? Huh. Nobody’s lived there in forever. The owner hasn’t bothered to visit, and probably no one spared a second glance at the ad he put up to rent it.”
„Well, I did, and I rented it out just two days ago, in fact. I thought it’d be easier for me to be at college and work if I didn’t have to travel 4 hours per day from where I lived. Now I just need to move in.”
„Huh.” She stroked her chin, looking deep in thought. After a boring minute of standing around, waiting for a response, she finally replied: „You’re going to go to Beach City College, I assume?” I nodded.
„What for?”
„Art.”
Peridot’s face lit up when I said that. „AWESOME. I’m taking art too. We’re gonna be colleagues!” She hit me playfully to the side with her elbow. I just shrugged, not really in the mood to discuss it.
It was an awkward half a minute before Peridot hurriedly said: „Hey, where’s your stuff? I’ll help bring it.”
With my faux-leather blue suitcase and a large blue bag securely placed in the trunk, we entered the small lime-green Toyota. It looked like it was scrapped together piecemeal - an off colored door, traces of duct-tape visible in corners of the car, the smell of metal - which was more than a little bit worrying. However, I rested easy when I realized it ran very smoothly, as if it was a brand new car.
„So...” Peridot started, taking a quick look at me, „Why did you rudely misspell my beautiful name so many times?”
I snorted. „Beautiful name? That’s reaching far, isn’t?”
„My name is the most beautiful name you’ve ever heard. Everything else is a lie. And you aren’t answering my question, Lazuli.”
„Alright, I’m going to do that just now.” I was too tired to tease her more. „You were the rude one first, always texting something on your phone and you always yelled out your order. Maybe I could have gone over it if my shift had started, but you always managed to arrive at the worst time of a rush hour. Honestly, you got off pretty light. Others would have spat in your drink or worse.”
„WHAT? You got hung up on that for so long? Half the people do the same thing as I did, Lazuli, and it’s just not logical you’d keep up misspelling everyone and drawing obscenities for so long. It just doesn’t add up.” She looked genuinely perplexed.
„Nah, I only kept it up with you. Watching your little tantrums when you saw your „name” was pretty funny. It was the only fun thing that would happen for hours.”
„That... makes a lot more sense. Now I wish I could facepalm, but I’m a responsible driver so that’ll have to wait.”
„Why would you facepalm yourself?”
„Cause I was an idiot not to notice such a simple thing. At least you got a laugh out of it.”
Why did her answer make me feel like I should remember something? It’s not like anything much happened today before she came to the coffee shop...
Oh, right. Now I wanted to facepalm myself.
„I think I have the right to ask a question now.”
„Shoot.”
„What was that weird pull I felt when I was writing your name today? I wanted to write-” Her hand shot straight off the steering wheel and clamped itself over my mouth, barely, and at the same time she stopped the car as fast as she could, not caring it was in still in the middle of the road. Slowly, she turned to me, her emerald green eyes looking at me very inquisitively.
„W-what did you just say?” Peridot asked, her tone dark and low. Okay, this became very strange real fast. I was thinking of bolting out of the car and giving a run for it, but almost everything I owned was in this same care, and there was no way I could replace it. Besides, her look gave off the vibe that she could keep me here whether I wanted to. I forced myself not to shiver and try to remain as calm as possible even though I hated how it now seemed the car shrunk to the size of a cell. I had to remain calm. I had to.
„Ehm, I asked what that weird pull I felt when I was writing your name?”
Peridot turned away, her expression changed to thoughtful. Aside from the barely audiable muttering from Peridot, the silence that fell was more oppressive to me than almost anything could ever be, even huge monsters and ocean depths. Now-old memories surfaced back, memories of a hulking silhouette I thought I buried beneath the sand forever. The horrible, familiar crawling in my skin returned, urging me to get the fuck out of the car, to get out before it happens again. All my instincts were yelling the same thing at me too; I could barely breathe.
I was two seconds from running out of the car when Peridot spoke:
„Alright, Lazuli, I’ll answer something to satisfy your curiosity just a bit. But I can’t share much.” She turned to me, all serious-like, before looking at me with concern.
„Hey, are you alright, Lazuli? You look like you saw a ghost or like something drained you off your blood.”
I did see a ghost, but she wasn’t real. She wasn’t real, she was just a memory. I can breathe.
„No, no, I’m alright. Just a bit lightheaded and very tired. It’s been a long day.” At least I could still lie like before, on the drop of a hat. Peridot didn’t seem to buy it.
„Ok, I’ll assume you’re not lying and take you for your word.” Thankfully, she didn’t want to press it either.
„Thanks. You still have a question to answer, though. I haven’t forgotten about it and I’m literally dying to know it.” I did want to hear it, but it seemed less important compared to getting the crawling to stop. I was lucky that for me, it would disappear faster if I could concentrate on something else.
„Ugh, there’s no way I can talk myself out of this?”
„No.”
„Didn’t think so. Ok, let’s stop obstructing the traffic - not that any cars passed here since I stopped - and you’ll get your answer.” She started the car and got it moving comfortably.
„The only thing I can really tell you is that I used a really useful trick to make you write what I wanted. You’d be amazed how I did it and I I’d really love to tell you all about it cause it’s so fucking COOL... but I am bound by an order of secrecy, and breaking it would be bad for both of us.”
„That sounds like bullshit.” I said as deadpan as possible. It didn’t actually sound like bullshit to me. I did some things that could be considered tricks like that, but there was no way in any hell I’d tell it to Peridot. That was best left to the past, untouched.
„What? No, it isn’t. Ugh, of course you wouldn’t believe me. I can’t make you believe - not without potentially making things very bad for me and for you - so I won’t try. But, honestly... I’m surprised you felt the pull. Most people wouldn’t even notice they wrote something different, and definitely not the pull. It’s impressive, really.”
„Thanks... I guess?”
„You’re welcome.” Peridot said happily. „We’re here, by the way.”
Peridot turned right with her car and parked it in the driveaway of a house that looked pretty much like my own. It was one-story tall, not very wide, with white-colored walls and a small garden. There were three differences: 1. Mine had blue walls. 2. The house number read 6. 3. My house was just to the left of this house.
„Why did we stop here?” I asked her, puzzled as if I was doing maths. Peridot looked smug.
„Heh. Sorry. I wanted to keep it as a surprise. I live here. Which means, in addition to being colleagues, we’re gonna be neighbors!”
Alright. This was too much for just one day. The annoying girl I always tried to piss off at my job turned out to actually be something of a goofball. She pulled something off that shouldn’t have been possible, which lead me to talking with her, her agreeing to drive me to my new place, me experiencing „an episode” again, and us sitting in her car as she told me we’re going to be neighbors.
I needed vodka.
„Just my luck.” I said.
„Of course it’s your luck! Who wouldn’t be lucky to know the great Peridot?” she said with rapt enthusiasm. „I’ll even help you carry your stuff inside your place!”
With Peridots help, only one trip was necessary to get it inside. There wasn’t much sunlight left so I turned on the house lights. It was a bit more sparse than I thought it would be - there were only two tables, a couple of chairs, and an old, dusty grey couch in the main room, basic kitchen appliances in the kitchen, and a bed that could probably fit two people if they didn’t mind getting into each others personal space. The air was stale, fraught with the smell of dust.
It was mine now. It was perfect. Maybe I wouldn’t even need any alcohol for tonight, especially cause the crawling had stopped.
„This place looks is a dump.” said Peridot, immediately ruining the mood. She continued to make some more comments about how bad this place was, but I wasn’t really listening until: „Hey, you need any help with unpacking?” asked Peridot.
„No. I’ve got it covered.” My voice was colder than I wanted it to be, but I really wasn’t in the mood and I wanted to be alone right now more than anything.
„Alright.” she replied a bit bashfully. „I’ll be leaving then.”
Peridot was almost out when she spoke again: „Hey, Lazuli?”
„What?”
„It was nice meeting you.”
„Same.” I replied with all the speed of an ingrained reflex. Peridot gave me a small smile and left.
I turned and began unpacking the most essential stuff I needed for now. The vodka I was drinking or the cigarette I lit weren’t essential, but it definitely felt so.
I laid down in bed, thinking of the last word I said to Peridot. The sheer number of times I said it like this made it seem almost like the wind. What surprised me...
was that today, I actually meant it.