Chapter 7
There was panting, groaning, heavy breathing. Korra felt the cold sensation of a wall against her back as she was being pressed against the rough surface. She was being pressed against the wall by a girl slightly taller than her with one of the girl's legs settled between her own. Korra's as well as the other girl's chest were rising up and down, trying to catch their breaths.
Why am I so exhausted though?
Korra didn't know. The only thing that mattered now was the girl standing in front of her, lips slightly parted and breathing heavily. Korra glanced up at the other girl, only to find herself captured by a pair of emerald green eyes looking deep into her soul.
They have a touch of gold in them. Korra noticed.
No matter how much she wanted to tear away her gaze from those beautiful eyes of hers, she just couldn't bring herself to do so, breaking this precious moment of intimacy. So instead she reached up and buried one of her hands into raven hair, enjoying the sensation of silky locks between her fingers, and dragged her down to finally fully close the space between them. To capture this girl's lips with hers in a longing kiss.
But it never came this far. One moment Korra was being pressed against a wall and almost kissed a girl that she weirdly felt really close to, the next she was being pulled out of her sleep by a bunch of people clapping and cheering. She really needed to change her alarm tone. This one was way too loud and annoying.
“Ugh...” She groaned and reached for her phone to turn of the alarm.
“Alright, I'm up.” She stretched her arms and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes lazily. “Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, I managed to wake up without snoozing my alarm...”
She yawned and tucked her arms behind her head, staring at the ceiling like she always did after waking up. She would usually just think about her dreams – Korra was a rather vivid dreamer – and try to figure out the deeper meanings behind them. Today was no different.
What the heck was that dream about? I tried to kiss a girl. What the hell?
She shook her head in confusion, trying to figure out what all of this mess meant.
She looked kind of familiar, but at the same time she seemed so far away…
She wrinkled her nose.
It's probably just a phase anyway, right? I mean, I don't like girls in that way.
“What a weird dream.” She whispered to herself before swaying her legs over the edge of the bed.
Emerald eyes and raven hair, huh?
It'd been almost three weeks now after Korra broke up with Mako, neither of them having spoken a word to each other. Mako of course tried to contact her, sending her message after message, begging her to forgive him, calling her a dozen of times, but he never worked up the courage to actually take a step towards the girl and talk to her in person. Not that Korra really cared, she wanted to be as far away from her ex-boyfriend as possible. What he did was unforgivable, at least with how things were standing now between the two of them. Since he went to the same school as she did, there was no way they could avoid the other person completely. They still saw each other in the hallways or the cafeteria, but both of them tried to keep their distance from each other.
Asami was really caring towards Korra over the past few weeks and Korra was more than thankful to have such an amazing friend by her side. In those past weeks they were almost inseparable, meeting up after school and having sleepovers practically every day. They also got a lot closer to each, what did not bother Korra at all. She needed this, the physical and also mental contact to other people she could trust. Aside from her parents, of course.
Trotting down the streets to school as she usually did Korra lost herself in her thoughts once more. Her mind wandered off to that weird dream again. To that beautiful girl she felt really attracted to. Why would she dream something like that? What was her brain trying to tell her? Who was that mysterious girl looking deep into her soul with piercing yet warm and loving emerald eyes?
She seemed so familiar… But I only know one person fitting to this description…
She stopped in her tracks for a brief second.
Nah, can't be.
Without giving the topic any further thought, she shrugged it off and instead wondered about what she would be eating for lunch. Korra was the type of girl who thought a lot about her problems and normally this would worsen her situation even more. Her brain would come up with the weirdest stuff trying to explain the mess that was pretty much her life.
Korra didn't want to ruin a friendship – a pretty good one at that – just because little Korra inside her brain was thinking that she had a thing for her best friend. She definitely did not.
Okay, so spaghetti sounds pretty good to me.
She grinned contently about her choice as she heard a familiar voice shouting out her name behind her.
Oh, for the love of god, please no. Why now?
After short hesitation she glanced over her shoulder to see Mako running towards her, holding his cap down so it won't fall off his head. He came to a halt in front of her and managed a halfhearted smile at the brunette.
“Oh, so pretty boy can finally talk straight to my face?” She snorted clearly annoyed by his presence alone.
“Korra, I- ugh. I just wanted to ask you if we could maybe go drink some coffee after school to-”
But Korra interrupted him. “And why would I do that?”
He sighed and closed his eyes for a second. “Korra, please. We're not some bratty teenagers anymore. I just wanted to talk to you about… you know.”
“Oh, you mean the break up? No, no, I'm totally okay with you cheating on me while I was away for five months and even impregnating a girl. No big deal, really.” She knew it wasn't really mature of her to rub this into his face in such an ironic tone, but she couldn't care less. She was tired of him and wanted him to know it.
He took of his cap to run his fingers through his hair.
“Yeah, about that… I want to explain all this mess to you. I want to apologize to you properly, I want to ask you for forgiveness. Please, just give me this one chance. If I mess it up, then fine, let's go our own ways. But I really don't want to lose you. I do still care about you.”
“You've already lost me a long time ago, Mako. You should know that.” She looked down at her shoes, she couldn't bare to look him in the eyes right now.
It was quiet for a moment, the words seemed to hit him hard which Korra was secretly proud of. After a while he regained his confidence and began speaking.
“I just- I know, what I did was wrong, but please let me explain. Just this one time and I'll leave you alone, promise. No more calls, no messages, nothing. Deal?” He held out his hand expecting Korra to take his offer.
With crossed arms Korra stood there and stared at his hand. Should she really accept or should she just slap his hand away and walk to school normally, leaving all of this behind her? Could she really handle losing Mako? They had been such good friends, even before they had been dating. But on the other hand, not being bothered by him and his messages and calls anymore did sound really compelling.
Maybe I should give him this one last chance.
She sighed in defeat and slowly reached out to take his hand in hers, then shook it one time vigorously before letting her hand fall to her side again.
“Deal. Just this one time. When and where?” She asked with a slight snarly undertone to her voice.
Mako grinned widely, visibly relieved that Korra had actually agreed to this.
“I'll text you the info later, okay? School's about to start and we should get going.” He started to turn away from Korra and lifted one hand to wave her good bye.
But Korra stopped him, her voice strong and dominant as she spoke up one more time. “Wait, stop. Just to be clear, only because I agreed to this meeting doesn't mean we're on good terms again, Mako. You understand?” Her cold blue eyes hit his amber ones in a frosty glare.
“Yes, I understand.” He averted his gaze from the shorter girl's face. Despite her height Korra could be quite intimidating. “So, I guess we'll see each other after school?”
Korra nodded in agreement, her facial expression still hard and cold. “Well, gotta get-”
“Korra, hey.” She heard someone say behind her and a hand was laid onto her left shoulder.
The voice was oh so familiar to Korra and never failed to lighten her spirit in an instant. A smile was forming on her lips as she turned her head to get a look at her friend, then turned around fully and wrapped her arms around the tall beauty, giving her a tight hug.
“Hi.” Korra's voice was calm and full of warmth now, a stark contrast to her voice just seconds ago when she was speaking to Mako – cold and annoyed.
Asami hugged her back just as tight, then let go and turned into Mako's direction, stepping in front of Korra to create some space between Mako and her friend.
“What the hell are you doing here.” Asami's tone was firm and frosty, her gaze contemptuous and scornful, causing Mako to shudder and shrink every passing second under Asami's glare.
“I-I, um, I just… I was talking to Korra and-” His stammering was harshly interrupted by a now more impatient and annoyed Asami.
“Get the heck away from her. She doesn't want to hear anything from you.” Asami had become quiet protective over Korra the last few weeks, since she'd never seen her friend all that broken down as she had been at her house, crying her eyes out and snuggling closer to the raven. It broke Asami's heart to see Korra so vulnerable and small and fragile. Seeing the usually strong, hardheaded, cheerful Korra being ripped apart by this boy standing in front of her. Never would she let anyone hurt her best friend like this ever again.
“Chill, it's none of your business anyways. She's not your property, don't treat her like some little baby. She can decide for herself.” Mako replied with an eye-roll, apparently having found his confidence once more.
“None of my business? She's my fucking best friend, you better shut your mouth before I'll take care of that myself.” Asami snapped back, now in full rage. How could he dare spit those words into her face?
But before Asami could do anything further, Korra took one of Asami's hands now clenched into fists into her own and loosened her fingers, demanding her to look at her. Asami did as she was told.
“Asami, it's okay. He really just wanted to talk, no biggie.” Blue eyes found emerald ones and Asami's stiff body relaxed as she looked into Korra's deep blue orbs, asking her to let the topic slide.
Asami huffed and crossed her arms while murmuring a quiet 'alright' under her breath. Why would Korra want to speak with him voluntarily? The younger girl offered a quick apologetic smile to her friend, then turned towards the boy who had been watching them suspiciously.
“Mako, you should go.”
He nodded slowly while eying them both on last time before walking towards a group of boys Korra only knew superficially. She sighed in relief as the boy left and turned to face a rather confused and still upset Asami looking down at her. “Explain.”
“Asami, come on. He just wanted to talk to me about the break up and stuff, no drama.”
“Yes drama. You know how I feel about Mako since your break up. This ass doesn't even deserve to look at you let alone talk to you ever again.”
“I know you're worried about me, but it's been like one month without neither me nor Mako talking to each other. We can't just leave it like that, things have to be set right. Mako and I can't go apart like this. On top of that he's Bolin's brother, there's no chance I'll be able to visit one of my best friends without meeting his older brother. Let me at least make it less awkward for the both of us.” Korra placed a calming hand onto Asami's forearm and squeezed it.
“I appreciate the worry, but this I have to do on my own.”
Asami looked down on the tan hand on her forearm for a while, then let out a heavy sigh and took Korra's hand in hers. She looked up into the shorter girl's eyes.
“I trust you, Korra. You know what is best for you. I'm sorry I worried too much.”
Korra smiled at the taller girl and pulled her into a warm hug.
“Don't be. I know you don't have any bad intentions. You just want to protect me. But isn't that normally my job, to protect you?”
Asami chuckled at the reference and pulled her closer.
“This time I get to be the knight watching out for the princess, huh.”
“Apparently, yes. But just for this one time. I can't let anybody replace me, not even you.”
They parted and smiled at each other before starting to walk towards the school.
“So, what did he want from you?” Asami started. As much as she wanted to let Korra be and let her handle things herself, she couldn't help but to be curious about their conversation earlier.
“Nothing much, really. He asked me to meet up, drink coffee and talk about the break up.” Korra shrugged. “He wanted to apologize.”
Asami rolled her eyes, hoping Korra wouldn't give in that easily after all he'd done to her.
“What are you going to do?”
“To be honest, I don't know.”
“So you are planning on forgiving him?” Asami asked in disbelief. She hoped that Korra wouldn't make any wrong decisions she would regret later.
“I told you, I don't know yet. Let's see how the meet up goes.
“Just think about your next steps and decide carefully. Don't let him talk you into things you don't want, alright?” Asami darted a quick glance at Korra, long enough to catch on the small smile tugging on the corners of her lips.
“I will, don't worry, Asami.”
With that their conservation was ended and they stepped into school.