"P-Peridot, please!" Lapis called out in a cracky voice, and she grabbed onto my wrist. I tensed up immediately at the feeling of her fingers wrapping around my arm, but I refused to turn around. "I-I have to go." I repeated, slightly pulling my wrist away. "Peridot, w-wait. Wh-what did I do?! Did I say something?! Wh-why did..." her voice was very shaky, and she tightened her grip on my wrist. I raised my eyebrows in surprise, and slowly turned my head to side glance her. Lapis switched her gaze from me down to her hand on me...then she quickly retracted. "I-I mean uhm...s-sorry heh, c'mon don't go, Peri. What's the rush?" she asked, clearing her throat. She sounded so...desperate. Is she okay?

Lapis took a step back, and folded her hands behind her back - her face was flushed. "I-I'm sorry...y-you...didn't do anything, exactly. It's me. Don't worry about it too much. I realized I'm...late for something." I murmured, and turned back towards the door. I speed walked toward it and swung it open. I took a deep breath, and walked right through. "This late?!" she asked, but I didn't respond, and just let the door close behind me. I ran down the patio stairs, and I rushed to my car. I'm sorry, Lapis. I'm not a coward, I'm not a coward, I'm not a coward, I kept repeating to myself as I entered my car. I kept trying to reassure myself, and come up with justifications for what I just did.

The guilt was eating away at me during the drive out of the yard, but I knew that the tension at that house would have eaten away at me much faster. I was losing sight of the sole purpose I was even in this broken down city for. I couldn't let myself do that. Not now. Not ever. I was staring almost too intensely at the road ahead of me, and I couldn't steady my breathing. My heart was still beating so incredibly fast, it felt like palpitations. My glasses began to fog up, and I groaned loudly. I snatched them off of my face, and rubbed them violently against my blazer as I attempted to keep my eyes on the road.

Stop thinking about it, Peridot. Just stop thinking about it. It's over. It's done with. You already did it. You can't go back now. I barely even got down the road when I realized the horrid mistake that I made. My vision wasn't blurry just because of my fogged up glasses - I was still intoxicated. I was still very well drunk, and I didn't even think twice before getting into my car and driving off. I almost swerved off the road at the thought of getting a DWI and possibly ruining my reputation as a hard worker for my mother's business. I had to pull over and wait it out. I pulled over to the side of the road clumsily, and quickly put the car in park. I rubbed my eyes roughly, grunting as I felt like my entire world was spinning.

C'mon, c'mon, sober up, Peridot. You gotta get home. You're gonna wake up with such a massive hangover in the morning. It's not worth it. I felt tears well up in my eyes, and before I knew it, they were rolling down my cheeks. I tangled my fingers into my slightly disheveled hair, and yanked on it in immense frustration. "I can't just stay pulled over on the side of the road all night." I grunted, resting my head against the steering wheel. I'm gonna be here all night. My heart was still nearly pounding out of my chest, and I couldn't get it to settle. My mind began to wander in the dead silence of night, and the only thing I could hear was my own heartbeat and heavy breathing.

It felt like everything was swaying in slow motion when I opened my eyes, so I just kept them closed. However, I was plagued by the heart-wrenching image of Lapis' hurt expression when I was leaving so abruptly. Why did I do that? I can't even drive home! I barely even made it down the goddamn road...I ever so carefully lifted my head off the steering wheel, and slowly turned it. I looked behind me through the back window, and the beach house was still in sight. I hadn't even gotten that far before I pulled over. This was a disaster, and I felt terrible. My head was throbbing, and it was miserable to open and close my eyes.

I genuinely didn't want to end up sleeping in my car just down the road of the house - if Greg or his son were driving home, they'd surely see me. I was now staring back at the house, and contemplating my decisions. Would it be pathetic to go back? I looked back towards the front, and I couldn't even see the city from where I was at. It'd be more pathetic to risk getting arrested, trying to drive back to the apartment. I took a few deep breaths, trying to rationalize and sort my options - I honestly didn't have many. Though it would be embarrassing to go back to the beach house after how abruptly I left, it would be much worse to try and head back home incredibly drunk. It also wouldn't be too great if Greg or Steven spotted me passed out in a car on their road. 

I only had one other option I could think of at the moment - to just go back. Go back to the house, and just wait it out. Just stay there until I sobered up enough to drive properly at least. My face was extremely flushed at the thought of facing Lapis again after acting so cold - especially on the same night, barely a half hour later. If I stayed here any longer, surely I would just pass out of exhaustion from the intense amount of stress I was under. I groaned loudly, and yanked the gear stick into drive. It was so difficult to do an entire three point turn while intoxicated, but I managed to do it within about five minutes.

I quickly drove back to the house, which was only about one minute away from where I was parked. I decided to park more so near the side along the yard, so my car would be less visible - I don't know why, but it just made me feel more secure...and less embarrassed. I yanked open my car door, and stumbled out, cursing myself for being so damn noisy. I had been squinting terribly the entire time, so I pulled my glasses back out and placed them back on. I adjusted them a few times, attempting to improve my vision a little bit - it didn't work very much unfortunately. However, I did think I spotted something on top of the beach house roof.

It was a silhouette, and I tried squinting my eyes even harder as I slowly approached the yard. I walked closer to the house, and it became a bit more visible. It appeared to be someone just...sitting on the roof perfectly still. They were hunched over, and it was completely silent from where I was standing. I couldn't help but feel a bit nosy, so I walked up the patio stairs as quiet as I could, and stood on my tippy toes, trying to see over the edge of the particularly low roof. However, I couldn't really see anything, and I quietly huffed in frustration. I looked around for anything I could claim or use to boost me onto the roof - how did they get up there? Is it Lapis? I genuinely wasn't able to tell from where I previously saw the person.

If it was Lapis, I knew that she is significantly taller than me, and it of course would be much more difficult for me to get up there. However, I wasn't going to let my height stop me - my curiosity was at its peak. There was a fence enclosing the patio stairs and patio itself, and I decide to use that as a boost. This was incredibly dangerous, but my better judgement of course was fogged by the excessive alcohol. I slightly wobbled as I struggled to climb the fence thing, and I stood on top of the skinny pillars. My balance was terrible in this state, so this was slightly horrifying to say the least. I tried to quiet my breathing, even though I kept panting in terror. I tried to maintain my balance, and the moment I felt myself falling backwards, I instinctively reached towards the edge of the roof.

My entire nervous system was shot in that moment, thinking I was about to fall to my death from a fence in attempts to climb a roof. I hopped off of the fence, hoping to the stars that my hands weren't going to miss the roof. Thankfully, they didn't, and I used my measly upper body strength to pull myself up. I could tell my face was probably bright red from my desperate attempts to not fall and die. I was starting to wish I hadn't even tried to get on that roof in the first place - but there was no going back. Once I (FINALLY) gotten my full body onto the roof, I remained on my hands and knees for a moment.

I completely froze when I heard a quiet noise over the cool breeze of the night. I strained my ears a bit more, closing my eyes and completely focusing. It sounded like quiet sniffling...like...crying? I sneakily crawled closer to the noise, and the silhouette eventually came into sight once again. It now definitely looked like Lapis, and I took a deep breath before crawling onto my feet. She was hunched over, and her knees were seemingly pulled to her chest as she rested her chin on them. She kept sniffling...and it didn't really sound like any type of allergies. I straightened my posture and contemplated on whether I should just go back or not.

I very slowly turned around, wanting to just climb back down and act like I never came up here in the first place. However, the moment I moved my foot to take a step forward, the bottom of my shoe caught onto a ridge in the roof, and I stumbled. I yelped loudly, stomping my feet down and trying to maintain my balance. Luckily, I caught myself before I fell off the roof entirely, and I stood there hunched over and panting harshly. Lapis definitely heard that one. "Peridot?!" Lapis croaked, and I flinched in response. I looked back at her with a nervous chuckle, and I loudly cleared my throat. "S-sorry...I-I uhm, didn't mean to bother you." I stammered.

She had quickly wiped away her tears and sniffled loudly, most likely trying to hide the fact that she was crying. I decided to not acknowledge it, and pretend I didn't see or hear anything. "N-no no it's okay! I just didn't see you there...you kinda caught me off guard." she murmured, running her fingers through her hair. "How did you get up here?" she then asked, and I tensed up. "I...climbed." was all I said, feeling slightly embarrassed. "How did you even reach?" she asked with a giggle. "N-not important." I replied briefly, looking to the side. "Hm. Well...wh-what're you doing here? I thought you had to go..." she said, turning back away from me.

"Well...if I'm honest, I can't exactly drive while I'm dr..." I trailed off as I noticed her shoulders slump, but she tightened her arms around her knees. I decided to try again. "I just...decided to stay a bit longer." I muttered, scratching the back of my neck. She then turned to look up at me once again, and both of her eyebrows were raised. Her lips were slightly parted, but she said nothing. I carefully approached her, and slowly sat beside her. I leaned back, and rested on my hands, cocking my head over to look at her more clearly. She was staring up at the stars with a glum expression. "So...a-are you okay?"