A well-organized life. That's all she ever had wished for. A normal, well-organized life where she knows everything and is able to predict what will happen thanks to a fixed routine and to fully control her environment. That's Peridot's ideal life.

This ideal may be the reason why Peridot is highly intolerant to changement. And another consequence is the immense amount of time she took to decide to test the new coffee shop in the city, and the even longer time she spent pushing away the time when she should go there. Now, this "new" coffee shop has been here for a few months already, and since the holidays are soon over, Steven has to stay home with Pearl homeschooling him, since she always wants him to be a little more advanced than the other children of his age.

As a direct consequence of Peridot's own irrational hesitation, she has now to go alone to a place she doesn't know who is already quite popular by now, which means that there will be people. This is totally stupid to shiver only at the thought of being on her own surrounded by everyone else looking at her and talking about her behind her back, but unlike her boss and the person she admires the most, Peridot doesn't manage to reach perfection.

And this fear leads her to the present moment, as she wanders around the coffee shop with no real reason other than trying to look busy as she hesitates between coming in, taking her drink and get out as fast as possible, and running back home and rewatching Camp Pining Heart, warped in her blanket and swaying back and forth.

"C'mon Peridot, you useless clod... You came at an hour when there is nobody especially for that..." She grunts between her teeths as passes a hand in her messy and short blonde hair, then she finally walks in.

She raises her eyes to look at the people inside. Indeed; there are not many people since she took care to verify at which hours there are less people here to know when she'll be safer. There are so few people that there is only one person at the bar for now. She can see them from the corner of her eyes and tries to ignore the insistent gaze they seem to give her. After a few seconds, she decided that she would sit down in the dark corner, at a single table near a high chair. Then, she finally manages to turn to the bartender to realize that... they weren't staring at her at all.

The said bartender is a young woman, around Peridot's age, or a bit older, who must be between 185 and 190 centimeters, with a thin body and a very graceful figure under her work clothes. She has matted skin, as well as dark blue eyes with what seems to be golden shades, and ocean colored short hair, a bit messy. She quietly looks at the people in the street behind the glass, showing a slightly sad and melancholic expression. Peridot looks at her a few seconds before realizing what she is doing and looking away quickly, feeling her cheeks getting warmer as she adjusts her round glasses nervously. Damn new things.

She finally decides to walk to the bar. The bartender finally notices her and a little smile appears on her face as she greets Peridot with a smooth and delicate voice:

"Good afternoon, miss. What would you like to order?"

"Arm... Erm..." Peridot stutters, having totally not thought about what to take before coming to the bartender. Urrgh! She hates new things.

"Here's the menu if you need it. Take your time, don't worry." The girl gives her a menu gently and then starts to look outside again, lost in her thoughts.

Peridot grumbles a "wow thanks" and then climbs on a high stool next to her and reads the menu. Why does she barely know any of these coffees? Even some classics are unknown to her. Well, she heard the names of those coffees, of course, but she has no idea of what they are made of. As she stares at the names of the classic coffees, as if their exact molecular composition was written right behind their names, she realizes that a few minutes have already passed. Gosh she should really hurry up now, she's going to be considered a weirdo.

"Uhm... M-miss?" She asks, catching the attention of the blue haired woman who turns to her and smiles a bit. "I think I'll have an espresso, please."

But isn't she being even weirder, asking for a simple espresso after spending minutes staring at the menu? Peridot, you useless stupid clod.

However, before she could even think about a plan or anything else that doesn't involve calling herself a clod in various ways, the bartender already nodded and started preparing her order. Too late to go back. After only one or two minutes, the girl comes back near Peridot, putting her espresso in front of her.

"Here it is. Sorry for the wait."

"It's nothing, it wasn't that long." Peridot mumbles before remembering what Steven told her about how to be nicer. "... Thanks."

The girl in front of Peridot widens her eyes a bit before leaning a bit her head on the side with a perplexed expression.

"You're welcome...?"

Ouch, why did she have to follow Steven's advice? He's a kid! And he doesn't care if he's seen as a weirdo or not! Now Peridot has to deal with the mess that's left behind...

"A-ah, s-sorry... I..." Panicking, she starts stuttering and lowers her head, staring at her cup for her not to cross the probably disgusted look of the girlas she nervously plays with her glasses again.

"Oh, no no no, it's ok, no need to apologize." The girl in front of her seems to be panicking too, nervously agitating near Peridot.

"O-ok..." Peridot does her best to calm down, drinking a bit. The bartender calms down too and sighs with what seems to be relief. She leans on the bar, not right in front of Peridot but slightly on her right, crossing her arms and puts her chin on them, looking at her customer from the corner of her eyes.

"... What's your name?" She asks after a moment of silence.

"H-huh? Oh, uh... Why?" She asks before realizing that she should have simply answered the question. Stupid Peri-clod.

"Oh, well, you seem... nice. I mean, not everyone says thank you for doing our work. So... yeah... But if you don't wanna tell me then everything's fine, I can let you alone if you want."

"Oh. I see. I'm Peridot. Who are you?"

"The name's Lazuli. Nice to meet you." Lazuli smiles kindly, seeming more joyful than when Peridot first saw her.

"Nice to meet you too." Peridot tries to smile a bit in return, seeking how to pursue the conversation. "Are you... working here only for the vacations and so you will finish soon or... not?"

"No, I'm not a student, I work here all year. But my schedule is not as full as the other employees. This means that I can go about my business all I want during half of the day. What about you? What do you do in your life?" Lazuli leans her head again on the side, looking now directly in Peridot's eyes, as if she were really interested in knowing her. The blonde girl quickly focuses on her cup again, drinking to give herself more time to seek for an answer. But what other answer than the truth could she give?

"I'm still a student. I'm at the University of Technology of Homeworld, but I also work as a part-timer for the Diamonds Industry, as a simple programmer."

"So you're actually from Homeworld?"

"No, I live in Beach City. I just take the bus to go to Homeworld, since both are pretty near it's easy."

"Right. Oh, I just thought about that but... How do you work, even if that's part-time work, while you're supposed to be in class?"

Ah. Great. Peridot messed up again.

"I- uh... I skip classes. I easily understand everything we're working on with a minimal amount of effort, and I have an easy way to see what happened in the classes to which I didn't attend, so... Yeah." She admits, lowering her head a bit and scratching one of her glasses' arm as if it was her own skin.

"I see. That's cool I guess."

"Cool?" Peridot raises her head and turns to the bartender, surprised by her answer. The girl raises her shoulders and straightens up.

"Yeah. I mean, you manage to follow your classes while still working, which already gives you a professional experience. I find that organizing your life well enough for you to be a student and a worker, sorry, a part-time worker, quite impressive. Especially since Diamonds loves giving shitty work hours. Excuse me for a sec, I gotta take care of a customer."

Peridot looks at the girl going to see an old man and taking his order. She finally relaxes a bit. Welp, she managed to come here on her own, with months of delay, yes, but still. And she even sort of ended up having a conversation with the nice bartender. Maybe she's not a total asocial useless clod after all. A smile of simple happiness comes on her face. One of those smiles you notice with surprise only after a few seconds and you can keep without any effort. It feels good. Maybe she should consider adding coming to this coffee shop to her routine, it wouldn't be that bad. She drinks some of her espresso quietly, waiting for the young girl to come back. And indeed, Lazuli walks to her and leans again on the bar near her.

"Did you just finish your coffee? Need another?" She asks, looking at her customer's cup before raising her eyes to cross Peridot's look.

"No no, I'm fine. I haven't even finished it yet." She says a bit too quickly. "But... Thanks. For asking."

"You're welcome. In fact, you shouldn't even thank me for trying to get more money outta you." A little playful grin appears on Lazuli's face, making Peridot chuckle.

"Don't worry about money, I'll surely have more occasions to pay you since I'll come back."

"Wow really?" She asks, seeming sincerely surprised, then smiles. "That'd be great. I mean, not for the money, I'm not the kinda person who would spit on a dollar being handed to me but it's not the reason why I'd be happy to see you again. I mean. Wait, let me reformulate that." She straightens up and takes a deep breath before looking Peridot in the eyes. "What I mean is, I appreciate your company, that's why I'd be happy to see you again."

"Yeah, I get what you mean. The feeling is mutual. Plus, if we live in the same city we may see each other outside of work."

"Urrhhh... Yeah... Maybe..." Lazuli immediately self-hugs and turns her head to look away, which makes Peridot raising an eyebrow. She stutters something incomprehensible before looking at Peridot from the corner of her eyes, and shakes her head from left to right, forcing a little smile on her face.

"Sorry, it's nothing. I'd be happy to see you outside of work." It's obviously a lie. That's why Peridot hates people. How sad, Lazuli might not be this good then.

"Hey Lazuli! Hey Peridot! I didn't expect to see you both here!" A well-known voice claims, dragging them both from their awkward moment.

"Steven!"

"Steven?"

"Yeah! That's me! Since I have finished the exercises sooner, Pearl said that we could end school sooner. But I'm surprised to see you both here, do you know each other?"

"No. Well, we just met and started to talk." Lazuli smiles gently, seeming more relaxed around the young boy. Peridot can't really say that she's wrong to do so, Steven is really good at making people smile.

"So you spend all your free-time here after your lessons? On your own?" The blonde haired girl asks, looking at the little boy sitting on a stool next to her.

"Oh no, I'm not on my own, there is Lazuli with me. Plus, after she's done with her work, we go to other places, such as the library!"

"But you know your... uhm... friends? don't like it when you're around me." The blue haired girl says with a little sad smile. Peridot raised an eyebrow, but she doesn't ask anything despite her growing curiosity. It's better not to mess with people's business.

"That's because they don't know you like I do!" He protests loudly before suddenly pointing at a drink on the menu that is probably made of more sugar than liquid. "Can I have this one, please?"

"Sure." Lazuli looks at what he chose and starts preparing it quickly, coming back after a few minutes. "Here."

"Thank you! Now, what was I saying...? Ah, right! They don't know you well enough! Look, you even took all your piercings off, you look like a normal girl now! Wait, no, you look less punk, you always have been normal."

Lazuli laughs when she hears Steven talking, which seems to light him up with joy. He probably didn't catch the slight sadness in her laugh like Peridot did. Seriously, she hates messing with people's business and intervening in conversation between friends, nor does she like starting something without knowing at all where it will go.

"Piercings?" She asks, trying to redirect the conversation despite all the logical parts of her saying that it's stupid and clod-ish.

"Oh, right, if you just met Lazuli you didn't see her day-to-day style!"

Lazuli smiles a bit, seeming endeared by the energetic young boy. Maybe she appreciates children. Then, she turns to Peridot.

"Usually, I wear crop tops with shorts or thorn jeans, or classy clothes but since I can not put them on well by myself it's a little disheveled. One sure thing though is that I have some piercings on the ears, the eyebrows, also one on the nose but I don't wear it very often, just like the one on my tongue, and another on the lip, and on the belly button. With that style and my blue hair, people look at me as a kind of gothic/punk girl."

"And you're not?"

"I'm... Myself. I mean, I like what I like, I don't wanna be trapped in a case which tells me who I am supposed to be."

"Arrrh. Understandable." Peridot grunts, lowering her head as she remembers how hard that can be.

"What about you, Peridot? Do you always have this style?"

Peridot raises her eyes to Lazuli who smiles kindly to her, as if she was returning the favor for redirecting the conversation. Then, she lowers her eyes to her gray sweater with an Area 51 pattern, her Bermuda shorts, and her not-so–white-anymore Doc Martens.

"... Well yeah. I mean, I like sweaters and jackets and jeans. And those shoes are my favorites. But I think I should really think about washing those."

"That kinda suits you."

"Peridot always manages to get clothes that I never see in any shop! Except the specialized ones." Steven says joyfully with shining eyes.

"That's why the internet exists. Also I know where the best shops are."

"You mean, nerdy shops?" Lazuli asks, raising an eyebrow with a mischievous grin. "If you know then, please, tell me, I'm sure there'll be some good stuff that I could buy."

"Oh. Right, sure. I mean, if Steven has your number I could send it to him and he would send it to you."

"Yeah, sounds fine to me." Lazuli smiles, seeming excited about it. Wow, Peridot might just have found a new nerdy friend.

"How about you girls just exchange numbers?" Steven asks, looking at them with his big widened eyes, then taking another sip of his drink.

Peridot and Lazuli look at Steven, then look at each other. Peridot doesn't know if it's a good idea; she's not a good friend, she can hurt people without wanting to. She knows it: she already hurt Amethyst, once. Lazuli seems to have the same hesitations about herself.

"Come on girls! You can totally be friends, I know it! Hey, you could both talk about Camp Pining Heart!"

"Camp Pining Heart? You like that show too?" Lazuli turns to Peridot with surprise written all over her face.

"If I know it? It's the best show ever created!" The blonde student claims, almost getting up, making the bartender laugh as she steps away to go to see another customer.

"You see? You're both fans of this show!" Steven says joyfully, loudly enough for Lazuli to hear him too.

"Hm... Yeah... Maybe..." Peridot mumbles, seriously considering this as she adjusts her glasses as a reflex. She then raises her head again to Lazuli when she comes back. "What do you think?"

"A-about what?" She asks, seeming a bit taken aback by her sudden question.

"Well, about us having each other's number. What do you think?"

"Ah. Yeah. I'm... I'm not sure it's a good idea..."

Peridot looks at the girl in front of her, trying to proceed with the information. Heh, right. Why would she even accept to hang out with someone like Peridot? To think that the blonde clod was even about to smile and call her a friend...

"Peridot? I-it's not about you, you know. It's just... I-I'm not a very good person... It'd be better that way..."

"Lazuli..." Steven tries, gently putting his hand on Lazuli's forearm, which seems to startle her at first and then help her relax. "You're making progress, you really are. You're becoming better everyday! You should trust yourself a bit more."

She raises her blue eyes to Steven, then to Peridot, seeming strangely... afraid. And sad, but that doesn't seem to be that rare with her.

"I do not see any problem hanging out with you." She says, trying to reassure Lazuli too. "You seem nice. And if we can talk together about C.P.H. then it's a win-win, right?"

"Hmm... Okay... I... I can try."

Peridot relaxes. She did it!

"Cool. Wait a sec, gotta take my phone..." She looks in the pocket of her sweater, unlocks her phone and prepares to register a new phone number. So does Lazuli.

Both exchange their numbers and the student finishes her coffee which started getting cold.

"After Lazuli finishes her job, we were thinking about going to the park. Do you want to join us?" Steven asks, finishing his drink too.

"No, sorry, but there's an important collaboration event on Honkai Impact and it'll be my only chance to get a Genshin character in Honkai. Plus I will have to go to work tonight. Can I pay with my card?"

"Sure. Here" Lazuli says, handing her the payment point.

Peridot pays and then verifies that she still has all her stuff with her. Once that's done, she gets up and smiles.

"Well, I'm off then. See you soon!" She says, starting to step away.

"Bye Peridot!" Steven says joyfully as he waves at her.

"Hey, Peridot!" Lazuli says, making Peridot stop and turn to her. "If you come back next week or before I'll send you the link to some other series that look like C.P.H.!"

"Wow, thanks!"

Peridot smiles joyfully and waves at them as she walks away, getting out of the coffee shop to wander a bit in the streets, walking back home. That was unexpected, but this change sure was nice. Maybe some changes aren't that bad, after all.