Pearl
“Are you sure you don’t want to come Pearl?”
Amethyst stood there with crossed arms and leaned to one side. The black snapback on her head was twisted on backwards, which complemented her long platinum hair, which blew to the side with the fan blowing in the background.
“I can’t,” Pearl did not look Amethyst in the eyes. “I have homework to do still. Thanks, for the offer.” The skinny girl shamelessly did not hide the sadness in her voice. The pink haired girl picked up her textbooks, vape, and went outside through the back screen door.
“What’s her problem?” Amethyst turned to Peridot. “I only invited her and everyone else to dinner at my mom’s place. Was it something I said?” She seemed a bit hurt.
“No, I can’t figure out why she would react in that manner,” Peridot answered, perplexed as well. It was unlike Pearl to refuse a kind invitation. And she was a horrible liar. “But if she really does have homework, she should stop reading the same page in her biology textbook.”
“Huh?”
“You haven’t noticed? She hasn’t flipped a page in the last hour, just staring at it.”
“Are you sure?”
Peridot shrugged nonchalantly. “I’m very observant and tend to notice details people usually look over.” Not to toot her own horn, but that was one of the qualities which made her into an adept hacker.
“No kidding. She’s been acting this way for the last few days, after you ran into my mom and little brother actually. I can’t figure out why she’s not talking to me.”
Peridot saw that transpire as well, another detail from her observations. Pearl could not look at Amethyst for a second without turning away. Going to class, she would only say a quick “bye” to her roommates if Amethyst was there. The taller girl was also spending more time in her room than usual. Very unlike Pearl, who seemed to be introverted, yet loved the company of her housemates. Something had to be up, something the pink haired girl was not telling them. But Peridot wanted to know why exactly she was acting this way, specifically with Amethyst. They were all very close, the blonde hoped at least, but Pearl and Amy were closest with each other. It did not make sense why Pearl would not tell Amethyst what was happening, if there was anything to begin with.
“I want to talk to her but…” Amethyst sighed. “I guess I don’t know where to start. This has never happened to me before, and I don’t want her to continue ignoring me.” She pulled out a chair from the kitchen table, and Peridot followed suit. “Man, this sucks.” She rested her head against a supporting arm on the table. “What to do now…”
Amethyst trailed off, and the two short girls sat there in silence, both in thought over the matter. This never had happened to Peridot either, excluding her mother, so she was with her roommate there. They stared blankly at different points in the room, until their eyes fell back on each other at the same moment.
“Say,” Amethyst began, “I just thought of an idea.”
“Really now, what is it?”
“You’re going to think this is a great idea Peridot,” there was a smile on her face now. “Instead of me talking to her, why don’t you?”
“Me?”
“Yeah, it’s perfect!” The other girl lowered her voice a tad. “Since she won’t talk to me, she may open up to you with anything that’s wrong. Like you said, you’re super observant. You can see if anything’s different or if she’s lying. And after you find out, you can come back and tell me. See, what did I tell you? It’s a pretty good idea, huh?”
“How do you know she won’t talk to you?” Peridot said hesitantly, raising an eyebrow. This did not seem like the smartest plan.
“I know from like, these last few days,” the tone in her voice was the same as someone pointing out the obvious.
“I really don’t know about this,” the blonde said flatly. “You should be the one initiating with her, not initiating a game of telephone instead.”
“Please? For me?”
Frankly, it sounded like Amethyst was asking for drama. She and Pearl were much better friends than Peridot was with the taller girl. They knew each other much longer than Peridot met them all. Should that not play a role? This whole idea seemed unnecessary, and there were much simpler ways of finding out what was wrong. But another part of Peridot was also curious, wanting to know the answer for herself.
She caved in.
“Fine. I’ll go talk to her.”
“Oh thanks P, you’re the best!”
Holding up a hand, Peridot continued, “But only if you talk to her afterwards. I don’t want to be brought into this, if there is even anything to begin with.” Inside she knew that was already the case.
“Yeah, yeah, I know. Anyway, I gotta run early to pick up groceries for my mom,” she swung around, grabbing her purse from the chair. “See you later mediator!”
“Wait, I’m not going to be the mediator!” Peridot protested, but Amethyst already left out the door. “Why did I even say yes to this?” She groaned to herself, putting her palm to her forehead, massaging it.
Instead of going directly outside to the backyard, she sat there at the kitchen table while focusing on her phone. Texting back Lapis with a sweet nothing, she typed in the search bar, “how to talk to someone who doesn’t want to talk.” Many of the results instead spawned articles describing how to tell if someone doesn’t want to talk, or specifically for people that are shy. Some articles gave hypothetical reasons for someone not wanting to talk. After accidentally clicking on “Why Your Man Won’t Talk to You,” Peridot was pulling out her hair. “This is a basic question, why is there not one decent answer?” The blonde asked no one in particular.
After a few more minutes of searching, she sighed, knowing the most natural way of going about this would not be found in an online article. Approaching the slide glass door, her heart was racing. She really did not like confrontation, even if that’s not how she was intending to come across. Talking on the phone when she was working was different than this. This involved her friends. Opening the door, she strolled outside.
The sky was mostly cloudy but still hot. Peridot instantly regretted coming outside and leaving her precious air conditioning. Pearl was in the pool, not swimming, but reading a book resting on the edge. All the outdoor couches on the back porch looked sort of lonely, with only one person in the pool.
“Hi Peridot,” the pink haired girl looked up from her reading, tipping her sunglasses in order to see her face past a filter. They were white and spherical, and her bikini suit was teal and yellow.
“Pearl,” she nodded, pulling off her shirt and shorts, revealing her black swimsuit. If she was going to talk to Pearl, she would have to get at her level. Plus Peridot desperately detested this heat. It was getting better now that fall was here, but not significantly.
The shorter girl swam over to her housemate, resting her arms on the edge. “What are you reading?”
“The Three Musketeers, I’m just over halfway through,” she glanced up to acknowledge Peridot, which the shorter girl took note. “Anyway, I’m finished reading for now. I need to rest my eyes for a bit.” Pearl bookmarked her page and pushed the novel aside. Leaning back, she floated on the water’s surface facing up. She sighed in relief.
“I remember reading that book in middle school. It’s a good read. Wasn’t my favorite, but it was up there.”
They both floated in silence, mostly out of Peridot’s nervousness to start conversation with Pearl. What could she say? Flat out ask her why she’s ignoring Amethyst?
“Are you and Lapis getting together later?” Pearl asked. Looks like she did not need to say the first word after all.
“Yes, after her last class Jasper and I are picking her up, and we are going to Amethyst’s house for dinner,” this was the moment to mention something.
“You and Jasper seem to be talking more,” Pearl was changing the subject.
“She helped me out with some advice,” Peridot cleared up. “I think after that we started to have more respect for each other. Before I thought she was just Amethyst’s bum cousin who never wanted to pay rent,” she was partially sarcastic.
Covering her mouth in a cute way, she chuckled at the comment. She probably thought the same thing as well, but never wanted to say it out loud. “Don’t tell that to her face, she could probably kick your ass,” she advised.
“I know better than that,” though sometimes there were moments where she spoke before she thought. Usually it happened in conversations where she was not listening, but focusing her thoughts on something else. “But I surmise she is somewhat productive during the day, working at the gym.”
“It makes you wonder if she ever goes home at all,” Pearl pointed out.
The thought never linked Peridot’s mind before. Did she even go home? Does she even have a home?
But Peridot recalled Jasper sharing with her how she was going through a rough period. The buff girl never went into a deeper explanation, other than what she told her at the bar. And it was not much. But Peridot never pushed the girl for further information, though she really desired to. She made a mental reminder to ask Jasper more on how she’s doing, since the night they had those delicious wings. Maybe they would have to go out again for more.
But Peridot gave Jasper benefit of the doubt, “Of course she does,” the blonde brushed the thought off. “It’s likely Jasper prefers to invest her time here at the Temple instead.”
Pearl laughed humorously, “What are we saying?”
That’s where talking about their partial housemate ended. It was a leap, but now she had made some friendly discussion with Pearl, the probability of Pearl willingly opening up was greater.
The blonde went for it, attempting to take an indirect approach. It was not so roundabout when Peridot reflected later that day.
“So is Jasper why you don’t want to go over to Amy’s house, or do you truly have homework?” The smaller girl asked in the most non-threatening way as possible, adjusting her tone to match Pearl’s own.
Pearl hesitated, looking back over at her book which was closed, “I… I just have a lot to do.”
Maybe Peridot did not have too many friends apart from her circle, preferring to be alone more than others, and was a bit more introverted than she liked. But she was adept and quick at reading body language. And Pearl’s eye contact, facial features, and tone all indicated she was lying.
She called out Pearl’s fib, “Well, I don’t want to push anything, but know that you can trust me and I am the last person to judge. I’m serious,” she added, “and I’m thankful you all never judged me for being, well, sort of a nerd and stickler. I really appreciate it, to be honest.”
Pearl bit her lip. Peridot could not read what hypothetically was going on in the girl’s mind. Had she really gotten to the thin girl, or did she majorly piss her off? She hoped it was not the later. Amethyst really owed her one after this.
Pearl shot a sharp look at her, which made the shorter girl feel even smaller. Her housemate held an elegant aura, and was calm and collected. But she sure as hell could be intimidating if she wanted to be. “Promise me… you won’t say a word to Amethyst.”
Taking a serious approach she confirmed, “This is between you and me.” It was not completely lying. Peridot planned not to tell Amethyst everything, whatever was going on. Only what the platinum blonde needed to know in order to talk to her housemate.
Relaxing, Pearl glided graceful in the water. “It’s not anything Amethyst or Jasper has done, it’s about a mistake I made.”
Peridot nodded slowly, not in agreement, but rather acknowledgement.
The taller girl went over to the edge of the pool, grabbed her vape, and exhaled a large cloud of vaporized smoke. “I can’t go over to her house. Ever since she invited us all, Amy’s wanted me to meet her family. But to make a long story short, I already know her mother.”
What was Amethyst’s mother’s name again? Rose Quartz? Peridot did not see this coming. At all.
“I was foolish,” she continued. “It happened last year, when Amy convinced me of downloading this app called Kindlr. It was right after I broke up with my ex-girlfriend, and I was in a vulnerable state. On that app was where I met Rose, Amethyst’s mom. We met and went on a couple dates at first. I knew she was older than me, but Rose was so amazing to me, which discounted that factor. During this whole time I never told Amy, Jasper, or Garnet. Instead I kept it to myself that I was dating someone new. My reasoning was I didn’t want them to think I was moving too fast, not because she was Amy’s mom. I had no idea of that until later.
“It was the night I went over to her place that I found out. The whole time she kept it a secret from me, that she was already married and had two kids. I didn’t even know her age,” Pearl slapped the side of her head. “She tried to hide it at her house, removing any evidence others lived there. But after we hooked up for the first time and she went to take a shower, I found a photo of her and her family.”
Pearl’s eyes were now getting glassy, “I really… had no idea. Instead of joining her, I just grabbed my things and left. I was too shocked,” a tear went down her flawless porcelain cheek. “It’s been a year, one whole year, and now Amethyst wants me to come over and meet the family.”
“I had no idea,” Peridot said, not knowing exactly what to say. “But you deserve better than that. You didn’t know.”
“Do you see why I can’t tell Amethyst, or anyone who already knows Rose? She would never talk to me again. It would hurt her so much.”
Peridot went over and hugged the taller girl there in the pool. She was not usually the hugging type unless it was with Lapis, but it seemed very appropriate at this moment. Until she had wrapped her arms around her, Peridot never realized how thin and delicate Pearl actually was.
This gesture caused Pearl to open up and cry. “I’ve never told anyone this before,” she laughed at herself, probably for being vulnerable in the first place.
Releasing the girl, Peridot looked up at her housemate. “Really?”
She shook her head. “How can you tell anybody you screwed the mom of one of your best friends?”
“There are counselors. I’ve personally never been to one, but they are a listening ear and trained to-“
“No, I can’t deal with counselors anymore. They never were beneficial for me and never will be.”
“Fair enough,” Peridot took back that suggestion quickly. She did not want to be suggesting things to Pearl in the first place. “Even though you already know this, I want to be here for you. You don’t have to feel alone. You’ve already dealt with that enough.”
The pink haired girl sniffed, wiping her tears with a wet hand. “You’re a good person and a better friend, Peridot.”
As much as Peridot cared for her housemates, she automatically doubted that statement. Something inside her did not entirely believe it.
“I can’t believe I actually told someone,” Pearl spoke gently, more towards herself. Her eyes were glazed and blank, and was very still.
Putting her small hand on Pearl’s shoulder, Peridot decided no one else was going to know.