I woke up on Saturday to the sound of my phone barking out an alarm. I had the same annoying song that I wrote back in eighth grade as my alarm. It woke me up to it's unmistakable four measures of blaring loud future bass.

"Peri..... turn off your alarm....." Lapis groaned from the other room. Following my roommate's orders, I pulled my phone to me and disabled the alarm. After sitting in my bed for a few more seconds, I pulled myself up.

I've got to impress Amethyst. I thought, digging through my clothes. Eventually, I pulled out a shirt I had bought at a museum gift shop. It was plain black with a simplistic alien design printed on it in bright green. Though I loved the shirt, I had never gotten the chance to wear it. Today's the day. I thought. Today I'm wearing this shirt. For Amethyst.

After digging through my drawers more, I pulled out a pair of khaki shorts, alien themed thigh-high socks, and bright green suspenders. Pleased with my outfit choice, I went and got changed.

After spending twenty minutes trying to figure out how to style my hair, I marched out of the bathroom.

Lapis said 'hey' without noticing me. I picked up my phone and put it in my pocket. I had all the courage in the world in those few moments.

I marched out the door, full of myself. When I got to the street corner, I received a text from Amethyst. It read: Hey Peri! This is peri, right? Anywhos I'm on my way to the cafe! Meet you there, hopefully-Peri!

I texted her back: Hey. This is Peridot. I'm also on my way to the cafe, and will be waiting to see you there!

Amethyst replied with a laughing emoji.

Within five minutes, I reached the Crystal Gem cafe. It was pretty crowded today, filled with people I recognized, such as my friend, Nephrite, and many people I didn't. At the counter, where I was yesterday, was a slim middle-aged woman with pale skin and pale coral hair, cut in a pixie.

"Hey Pearl." I said, trying to catch her attention.

"Peridot! What a pleasure to see you! You don't have a shift today." Pearl said.

"I'm waiting for someone." I responded. At that moment, Amethyst walked through the cafe door.

"Oh. Her." Pearl said, seeming somewhat disappointed.

"Hey Peri! Hey P!" Amethyst said, addressing the two of us. "So... you know Pearl?" Amethyst asked, only to me this time. "Of course you know her, you work here."

Pearl coughed. "Can I get you two anything?"

"I'll have a pomegranate tea with lemon and vanilla." Amethyst said, repeating her order from last time. Pearl turned to me. "Uh. I'll have the lavender tea." I said.

"For here or to go?" Pearl asked.

"To go." Amethyst said, then turned to me. "We're gonna see the town."

"Anything else?" Pearl asked.

"Actually, can we get some croissants?" Amethyst asked.

"Ruby did you hear that?" Pearl asked to one of the cafe's two pastry chefs. Ruby was short, her hair was a mess of dark brown curls and her skin was a warm brown tone.

"Sapphire! We need more croissants!" Ruby asked, turning to her wife and baking partner, Sapphire. Sapphire, though the same height as Ruby, was curvier, her skin was ashen and dark, her hair a pale-gray-blue. Sapphire was missing one eye. No one ever told me how she lost it, I just accepted it.

"I know." Sapphire replied in her calm voice. "We have some in the back."

As Ruby walked into the back room to fetch more croissants, Amethyst turned to me. "So what do you want to do today?"

I blushed. "Well.... I'd like to walk around the city some..... I don't know........ buy books."

Amethyst laughed. "You're such a dork. An adorable dork, but still a dork."

I laughed nervously. "What do you wanna do?"

"Well, your idea sounds pretty cool to me. We can do that. I'm pretty sure you know some pretty cool bookstores and stuff."

I smiled. "I do. And.... thanks for spending time with me."

Amethyst laughed and patted my back. "It's nothing! You're fun to hang out with!"

That's the first time we touched.