Toxic
“I’ll pick you up from work,” that’s what Peridot said several hours ago.
“The club closes at four, and my shift ends at four thirty. There’s no way I’m letting you wake up that early, just to pick me up from work. I have no problem taking a bus.”
But Peridot insisted. “Perfect, I’ll be there at four thirty on the dot.”
“Why do you have to be so stubborn?”
“And you’re not?” The blonde raised an eyebrow as Lapis got out of her car from the passenger seat. She rolled down her window, and her girlfriend came over to her side.
“I’m only reasonably stubborn,” the blue haired girl folded her arms, mouth in a fake pout.
“Reasonably stubborn, heh. I promise to bring you coffee when I pick you up.”
“That’s playing dirty. How can I refuse caffeine?” The tan girl shortened their distance, starting to lean in towards the window.
“I’ll even throw in a donut with chocolate cream, just to make it a done deal.”
“Okay,” Lapis said. The blonde was surprised she gave in so easily. “Just as long as I can have one more thing.” Closer.
Peridot gulped to suppress her chest which jumped. “What might that be?”
Their noses touched, and Lapis whispered a single word. “You.”
She gave Peridot a sweet, lengthy kiss on the lips. It was soft and gentle, with a hint of tiredness. The pale girl felt oddly sorry for her, wishing she could zap all her weariness away into thin air.
“I think I can manage that.”
Her hand grazed Peridot’s cheek as she walked away from the car. “I’ll call you when my shift’s over.”
Waving at Lapis, she drove away down the street. But instead of going back home right away, she drove to the local convenience store, even though she would be back there in the early morning. Unfortunately Lars was not working that night, meaning no cynical banter could be exchanged. Parking right in front, the lights in the store glared through the night, and Peridot had to shield her eyes. The store bell rang after she walked through the door.
There was no one working behind the counter, and nobody came from the back room. Odd. There usually was one person working here. Even though it gave a particular horror movie vibe, the blonde shrugged it off. No axe murderer was going to pop out from the aisle and end her, right?
Opening the fridge door, she grabbed an energy drink. For later. She also grabbed a banana and a protein bar. To make up for the ‘for later’ drink.
Looking over the last aisle out of curiosity, she saw a man who worked there, counting items and writing on a clipboard.
The man greeted her, “Sorry ‘bout that, for not hearing you come in. This inventory stuff can put me on a one track mind,” he tapped the clipboard with his pen. “Did you find everything alright?” He moved up from his position and headed to behind the register. Peridot followed.
“Yep,” she said simply.
The man looked at Peridot’s items. “Long night ahead of you?”
“Kind of. Nothing exciting.”
Ringing up and bagging her purchases, the clerk weakly joked, “Same over here. Haven’t slept in four days.” Judging by the forced smile and large bags under his eyelids, Peridot could have guessed that.
“Uh, well, thank you,” Peridot took the bag and her receipt.
She had never seen him around the convenience store before. Must be a new employee.
But walking back out to her car towards the dark streets, she saw a shockingly familiar figure.
“Lapis?” The small girl called out. “What are you doing here?”
The figure, unmistakably a woman, just froze in place, staring at Peridot like a deer in the headlights. The blonde was walking towards her anyway. “Aren’t you supposed to be at work?” She continued, until the came face to face. In shock, Peridot realized this was not Lapis. This was her sister, the same girl she saw dancing around the pole at the club. It was Malachite, the sister whom Lapis still cared for while never admitting it, and in turn never heard from.
“I-I’m sorry,” I mistook you for someone else.
The older woman flipped her platinum, almost white, hair to one side. The left side of her head was shaved, revealing the five piercings in her right ear. Her body was toned, probably due to work, and proudly wore a sleeve tattoo up her entire left arm. “You be one of her friends,” she said casually. “We tend to look alike.” She lit her cigarette, taking in a long, heavy drag.
Peridot was actually talking to Malachite, the sister Lapis had desired to talk to, and with time reconcile with. She could not believe it. How did she even get in this position anyway? It appeared lately she was asking that question frequently.
“Actually,” Peridot decided to correct her. “Lapis is my girlfriend.”
Whoops. She did not mean to reveal her girlfriend’s sexuality to her sister, it was an automatic, unintentional response. Was it appropriate, what she did? Her gut began to sink, and she felt guilty.
Malachite was unfazed, which did not surprise Peridot either. The older woman worked in the heart of downtown after all, where there were LGBT bars and clubs a plenty. “Girlfriend…” She thought about it for a moment, keeping her piercing and slightly intimidating stare.
But what startled Peridot is when Malachite began to laugh. “I don’t fucking believe it,” she snickered, amused. “You. Her girlfriend!”
“I’m not joking,” Peridot spoke seriously. She would not allow herself to be intimidated.
“I know that,” she snapped out of her laughing. “My little sis isn’t exactly the type to settle.”
“Well she has. And if you still don’t believe it, maybe you should connect with her a little more.” Settle? What did that mean?
Malachite came closer. Still enough distance away, but a foot too close for Peridot’s liking. “Has she told you anything, about me?”
“Not much.” That was true.
The taller girl appeared satisfied by the smaller girl’s response. “Figures. She was never really a family-person anyway.”
“Then you don’t know anything about her. She cares about you and your mom a lot,” the smaller girl countered in her girlfriend’s defense. “Where were you anyway, when your mom was in the hospital?”
The pierced girl froze, but only for a moment. “She was in the hospital, huh.”
“You didn’t know?”
“Nope. No idea. That I suppose, is due to my baby sister as well,” she massaged her chin. Turned away at a slight angle, Malachite no longer faced Peridot straight on. “Whelp, I have to go now. My break is almost over and I still really need a beer. It’s good to know Lapis is doing so well,” she accentuated, crushing the finished cigarette under her five inch tall heel.
“She is,” the blonde said firmly.
“Oh and another thing,” Malachite grabbed a pen and slip of paper from her leather studded, black purse. Sloppily, she scribbled a nine digit number, using her upper thigh as a surface. Crinkling up the paper, she underhand tossed it to Peridot, who almost dropped the catch.
“Tell Lapis she is always welcome at my place.” Malachite walked off into the store without waiting for a response.
But Peridot was silent anyway, staring down at the paper in hand she unraveled. A phone number. To give to Lapis.
Peridot never went home. Instead she drove back downtown, and walked aimlessly around the strip. Whenever she passed by The Stage where Malachite worked, she examined the silhouettes drinking and dancing. For the entirety of the night, the blonde people watched while chugging energy drinks. Either way, her heart would be racing. Resting on the bench where she and Lapis first met, she took the last sip of her energy drink, wishing she had bought fifty more.
Before having to pick Lapis up, Peridot thought long and hard about what she would say.