Hidden Gem

“It’s too good of an idea to not. It has to happen. We’ll make it happen,” John assured her with a grin. He laughed again, shaking his head. “I don’t really deserve the credit. It was my friends’ idea. I am just along for the ride most of the time.” Honestly, but people like that were good for John. Without people to push him outside of his comfort zone and help him be a bit more flexible, he would probably live a very boring, very structured life. He continued to laugh, especially as it seemed his sabotage was working, and she had lost most of her momentum. He grinned, lifting an eyebrow at her challenge, nodding his head. “Oh, you are so on. Fair and square, who can jump the farthest. Would you like the first jump, or should I?”

  “Perfect! I mean it has been proven we make a pretty good team.” She smiled over at him. Look at what they had done with her shop. “Nothing wrong with that. It’s just as fun with going along with whatever adventure comes your way.” It’s why she liked to wander. It was like the universe was leading her on an adventure. She always wound up exactly where she needed to be. “You jump first, I gotta get my momentum back since someone,” she sent him a playful glare, “decided to ruin it.” She tried to keep a straight face but the corners of her mouth quirked up anyway.

“See, this is why we’re friends,” she grinned. “Let’s go to the beach. I feel like I haven’t been in forever.” It had only been a matter of weeks, but she was just glad for a distraction. 

Gemma laughed. “Oh absolutely.” At the mention of the beach, she smiled. “Ooh, yes please! I haven’t been since I started work on my shop.”

John’s eyes got wide as she explained the story, grinning and shaking his head. “That sounds fucking amazing!” he exclaimed. “We definitely should get a group of friends. It would be the greatest game of Marco Polo in history!” John chuckled, thinking back on the memory. “It was the most logical solution for our last night sweet craving at the time,” he laughed, shaking he head. “We did not get caught, and honestly it was a fairly easy heist. Believe it or not, the cafeteria is not the most high security area of campus.” He laughed again at her outrage, shaking his head. “Can’t cheat if we never established rules. “Alls fair in love and swinging competitions.” he teased, continuing to mess with her stride and laughing. He couldn’t remember the last time he had laughed so much in a single night, and he was enjoying every moment of it. 

“Oh my gods, can we please? That would probably make my year.” She agreed with a laugh. “Well, I mean that sounds like the best kind of logic to me.” She giggled. She wasn’t sure if she needed to get more adventurous or if she had good friends that did their best to keep her out of trouble. She probably would have tried making her own if she had been in his position. “You know, I gotta say, I’m pretty impressed.” She laughed a bit before gasping at his rebuttal to her calling him a cheater. “Oh, so that’s how you wanna play it. I see you.” She laughed as she did her best to get her momentum back but she was wobbling at best. “Let’s change it up then. Let’s see who can jump off the farthest and no interfering.” She gave him a pointed look despite the large grin on her face.

“You’re very welcome.” Stephanie smiled at Gemma, listening to what she was saying and nodded every so often. “Okay.” She tried to think what would be best, she could do it herself, but would feel better if Gemma did it and it was done right. “I think it would be better if you did it because you know what you’re doing. I’d probably mess it up somehow.” She laughed then smiled at Gemma, “I think jewelry would be nice, a necklace maybe?”

Gemma nodded, an easy smile on her face. “Of course! I’d be happy to come over. We can get that scheduled when you check out.” She nodded once more at Stephanie’s request before motioning for the other woman to follow her to the crystal section of her store. “So shungite actually has properties that protects you against EMFs, electrical magnetic fields. They’re harmless. Our phones and computers emit them so it’s truly a great stone to have on hand when dealing with stress at work. I have two pendants for ya. One’s in a personal favorite shape of mine, a crescent moon and the other is just a standard obelisk.”

John threw his head back and laughed, before looking over at her. “No! You did what?” He honestly couldn’t be that surprised at the story. That seemed like exactly something Gemma would do. “I’m trying to think of one of my favorite adventures, not counting this one of course,” he said with a little laugh. In high school, there were quite a few times were Alex and Lafayette dragged him along on random excursions. “Oh, I know! Did I tell you about the time some friends and I broke into the WDPA cafeteria one night, just to get free ice cream?” he laughed at the memory, shaking his head. John pumped his legs to try and push himself higher, but honestly should have known Gemma would be the superior one at this. So he began to reach out his leg to try and tangle with hers in order to slow her down, laughing all the while. 

"I played Marco Polo at 3 am in a skate park." She repeated with a laugh. "It was in the middle of finals week and I just had the urge to get out of the dorm room. So we went out to the skate park. We ran down into one of the bowls and soon she was on one end, I was on the other and we started playing Marco Polo. It was dimly lit too so it was perfect." She giggled before getting a brilliant idea. "We should get a group of our friends and play. I bet it'd be so much fun with a group of people. It'd be echoing like crazy." She then looked over at him with a grin. "What? No! That sounds amazing and I'm a little sad I never thought of that." She laughed. "Did you guys get caught?" She tried to dodge his leg, starting to lose her smooth swinging movements. "What are you doing?" She asked with a laugh. "You're cheating!" Honestly her cheeks were starting to hurt from all the smiling and laughing she was doing tonight but she wouldn't change a thing at all.

"Scoooouuuuuutuh!" She exclaimed, holding out the vowel in his name and even making sure to pronounce the 't' hard. "It has been way too long since we have hung out and I know I've been dealing with the store and you've been busy but pizza is calling our name. And it's on me. It's the very least I can do to show my appreciation for your help with me finally getting Hidden Gem launched."

When her hand slid into John’s, he gave it a little squeeze before they were off towards the park. It was always fun seeing Gemma this way. She had this sparkle in her eye, and it seemed there was no deterring her from whatever adventure she set her mind on, not that he would ever want to deter her. She brought out the spontaneous side of him that didn’t often make an appearance. John grinned as he slid into the swing next to hers, looking down at himself again. “First time for everything, yeah? This is definitely an adventure for the books,” he said, looking over at her with a smile. “Oh, I’m sure we look outrageously ridiculous and I am here for it,” he laughed. “Go big or go home, right?” He pushed off the ground, beginning to swing. He couldn’t remember the last time he genuinely swung on a swing set. It felt just as ridiculous as it probably looked, a fully grown man swinging in a suit, but he currently had no intention of stopping. “Bet I can go higher than you,” he challenged, teasingly continuing to laugh. 

“Oh, absolutely. This actually might beat my favorite one. Have I ever told you about the time my roommate sophomore year and I went to the skate park at 3 am and played Marco Polo?” She laughed at the memory. They had still been up studying for finals when Gemma had the urge to go out. They wound up at the skate park and after they had run down to the bottom of the pool together, Gemma had suggested the game. It was just dark enough that it worked. As she started to swing, her long skirt rippled and her bare feet poked out from underneath the blue tulle. “Oh, you are so on.” She accepted the challenge with her own laugh as she pushed herself higher and higher.

Gemma was a whirlwind of beauty and energy and wonder, and John was loving every moment of it. As soon as her arm slid through his, he turned his face towards her, smiling down in her direction. “Well, I gotta admit that I love hearing you talk about the way you experience the world. It always seems a bit better, a bit more wonderful when you’re around. I’m glad I found people who help me to see that,” he said, his tone quiet. I’m glad I found you, he wanted to say, but he knew that would be a bit too much, though his grin grew and his heard did a little hiccup as she gave him a quick peck on the cheek. He was going to have to take a break from alcohol, because he felt like his brain was an absolute mess. But he let out a little laugh as she bounded away again, darting across the street in pursuit of a shortcut. “Swings? Well I can’t say no to swings!” he agreed, before chasing after. 

She smiled softly at his words, her cheeks turning a rosy color as warmth spread through her. “Then I’m glad I can bring a little bit of magic in your life.” She had honestly shocked herself when she had kissed him on the cheek. She was certainly only a little tipsy so she couldn’t blame it on the few drinks she had had at the reception. Then again whenever she was with John she had always felt lighter and didn’t think some things through all the way. Once he had joined her on the other side of the street, she took his hand and started heading towards the park in not quite a running pace but certainly more hurried than their previous stroll. She was in full on ‘we’re going on an adventure’ mode. Her smile never left her face. When they got to the swings she dropped her shoes by the pole of the swing set and plopped down in the nearest swing. “You know I don’t think I’ve ever been on an adventure so dressed up before.” She said as she walked herself back so she could push off. “We must be some sight.” She giggled.