Author's Note: I highly recommend listening to "Can't Help Falling in Love" by Elvis beforehand. And also, I want to steal Elvis's voice. That is all.

Pearl put a pink highlighter on her nose and managed to balance it for a record-breaking time of two minutes and seventeen seconds. She picked it up and stared at it dazedly. It was amazing how much fun mundane things were when one was procrastinating.

Pearl actually prided herself on finishing assignments on time, early even, but tonight... tonight studying was difficult. The first two hours of studying had gone well up until her neighbors had burst into drunken song.

And if she were being honest, she was glad to hear them, even if they were keeping her from her work. Pearl had managed to cough up enough money to afford a single dorm all to herself, but after a few months in a new college she found herself a little starved for company. Voices through walls too thin would have to do.

And also if she were being honest, her two neighbors sang quite well, even while inebriated. One voice had a rather unique raspy edge to it while the other was fuller and smooth, with what Pearl assumed was some sort of English accent. Pearl let her eyes fall shut, the singing almost pleasant in her tired ears.

The songs had changed in style over the course of the night. Her neighbors finished with the old pops songs (which included a rousing rendition of We Are Young and a screamo version of Wrecking Ball, courtesy of the raspy voice) around one in the morning, and then they started on something slow and mournful.

She laid down on her carpeted floor with her hands clasped over her waist, listening, her studying ignored. Pearl took in a deep breath and let it out slowly to drive away the worried voice in her mind, nagging at her to review for physics. Who even needs physics? Another breath in, and then-

"Wise men say," her neighbors sung soulfully, "...only fools rush in...".

The breath came out of Pearl in a quick whoosh. This song never failed to pull at her heartstrings; perhaps that was why she enjoyed it so much.

"But I can't help falling in love with you..."

Pearl chuckled; she was fairly certain she was falling in love with her neighbors. They weren't quite as good as Elvis, but then again who was?

Maybe it was the sleep deprivation that drove her to it, or maybe it was the song itself, but for some reason her voice joined with her neighbors on the next line.

"Shall I stay?" Pearl sang, her own melodious voice harmonizing nicely with the other two.

"Would it be a sin..." Halfway through the line her neighbors fell silent, leaving her clear voice ringing throughout her dorm room. Pearl supposed she had surprised the other two; maybe they assumed they were relatively alone, as it was a Sunday night and half the students drive back home to con their parents into doing their laundry on the weekend.

Pearl sang the next bit alone. "If I can't help..."

But her neighbors returned with new enthusiasm, "...falling in love with you."

Their voices faded despite the fact that the song was unfinished, and for the first time that night there was silence in Pearl's dorm. Until someone pounded on her door.

Pearl startled as if awoken from a stupor and strode to the door. She squinted through the peephole suspiciously. Two people stood there; one was tall with dark skin and crooked shades over her eyes, the other was shorter and of Hispanic descent Pearl guessed, with very long and mussed hair. "Hey!" The shorter one said, "You sing like reaaaalllllyyyy well dude. Opennnnn sesame."

Pearl noticed the unsteady sway and the slurred rasping voice of the short woman, and realized immediately that these were her drunk musical neighbors. She unlocked the door and the short women pushed past her to enter her dorm room. The other woman followed her, giving an apologetic and slightly slurred, "I tried to stop her," as she walked past.

"Well, come in," Pearl murmured under her breath. She closed the door behind them.

The shorter one guffawed and put her hands on either side of Pearl's face; Pearl yelped, stumbling down towards the drunk woman. "I'mmmmm Amethyst. What's uh, what'ssss your name? I betcha it's like uh, 'gorgeous' in another language or somethin', because- because you're veryyyyy pretty." Amethyst gave an idiotic smile that was probably intended to be sexy.

Pearl pulled Amethyst's hands off her and stood upright, trying to ignore the flush on her cheeks where Amethyst had been touching. "Well, thank you Amethyst. My name is Pearl-"

"AH HA! Pearls are pretty! I knew it!" Amethyst exclaimed triumphantly. "See that Garnet? I'm almost- almost good as you now."

Garnet shook her head and smiled. "Not quite." She offered Pearl her hand to shake, "I'm Garnet. You have a very nice voice."

"Ah thank you." They shook hands for too long a moment, and Pearl studiously tried to ignore how very gay she was feeling due to that smirk on Garnet's face and her hand warm in her own. She scrambled for something to say. "So um, what did she mean 'as good as you'? Do you have a knack for guessing names?"

Garnet grinned. "No, I'm just very good at predicting. In fact, I'd almost call myself a... fortune teller." Garnet took Pearl's hand and flipped it over, palm side up. Humming playfully, she brushed the tips of her fingers lightly over Pearl's palm. A shiver ran up Pearl's spine.

Garnet tapped at a crease in her palm. "Yup. Right here. We were meant to meet."

Pearl raised an eyebrow, playing along. "Oh really?"

"Really," Garnet said.

Amethyst laughed a little too hard at that and fell down at their feet. She wiped a tear from her eye as she caught her breath. "Whew. No but seriously, I'm glad we /did/ meet. Your voice is like, silk or whatever. You gotta join us the next time we get drunk 'n' sing together, kay Pearl?"

Pearl gaped for a moment. "I'm underage!" She said.

"Pfft," Amethyst waved a hand dismissively, "So am I, besiiiiides, what's a little underage drinking anyway?"

"Illegal, for one thing," Pearl quipped.

"You don' have to drink if you don't want to," Garnet said, placing a hand on her shoulder and speaking a little too close by her ear. Pearl repressed another shiver.

"Ehm right, thank you," Pearl squeaked.

Garnet hummed and bent down to help Amethyst to her feet. Pearl frowned, spotting something in Amethyst's mane of hair. She plucked it out to find herself holding a shrimp- a live shrimp, with antenna and a head and squirming legs. Pearl shrieked and flung it from her hands.

Amethyst jumped, head whipping around to see what Pearl had thrown. She then dove to the ground and gingerly took the shrimp into her hands. "Pearl! You found Onion! We lost him like an hour ago!"

"On- Onion?" Pearl asked, now thoroughly confused.

Garnet nodded, "Amethyst stole some shrimp from the biology department. That one is Onion."

"Ooookay," Pearl breathed out. She put a hand to her forehead. "You know what, I think I should be going to bed."

"Alright," Garnet said, "Come on Amethyst, we should let Pearl rest."

Amethyst shot Garnet a pout but shrugged in the end. She nudged Pearl with a shoulder (as her hands were occupied by her shrimp) as she walked past. "Listen Pearl, we gotta hang out sometime. Like, I didn't know you existed and- and we're neighbors!"

Pearl chuckled uncomfortably. "Yeah, I suppose I don't get out very much."

"Well I'm sure we can change that," Garnet said, "If you want to of course."

Did she want to? Pearl glanced back to her textbooks forgotten on the floor. Studying can only get one so far, and it never quite soothed her desire for human company. Oh but what would her parents say? Pearl shook her head briskly. Her parents weren't here, now we're they?

"I'd love to," Pearl said, smiling.

And that was the day things changed.