Chapter 9
Me and feelings for Asami? Nope, not going to happen.
She shook her head in disbelief.
What was Mako thinking? I obviously just like her as my best friend, right? Not in a romantic way.
She let out a heavy sigh as she trotted down the streets leading to a smaller park. Being outside of the house and go and get some fresh air always helped her figuring out her thoughts. She didn't have to concentrate on anything, just the road in front of her and her mess of thoughts tangling in her head. Nevertheless, she didn't really like going by herself, good thing Naga was always willing to go for a walk – even at almost 3am like today.
“What is wrong with me? I don't have these kind of feelings, so why does it still bother me that much?” She whispered to herself while kicking a stone down the street.
“What do you think, Naga?” The massive white dog perked up by the sound of her name, turning to properly see her owner. “Am I in l-love with… Asami?” The sound of those words already felt so weird and strange, but somehow right as well. “One for yes, two for no.”
It was stupid to expect an animal to give an actual answer, but other than Mako and Naga, Korra didn't have anyone she could talk to about this problem. Not even Asami, since she apparently is her potential love interest – at least according to Mako – and the cause of her problem.
Naga tilted her head to the side as if she didn't quite understand her owner's question, then barked one time and turned around again, continuing to take in her environment around her.
“Oh, come on. Not you too!” Korra complained and kicked the stone a little bit too hard, causing it to fly high up into some bushes. “Damn it.”
She sat down on a nearby bench and leaned against the backrest, letting her head fall backwards so that she was facing the sky, admiring the stars shining without a care in the world. “What the hell am I supposed to do?”
Korra felt lost and insecure, a stark contrast to her usual character – strong and collected. She always knew her next steps, how to handle different situations and figure out problems. But that often only applied to problems that weren't her own, feelings that weren't her own. However, when it came to her personal issues and emotions she would feel uncertain about her decisions, question them and often make the wrong choices. But normally she would be able to ask Asami about these things, not this time.
And as if by command Naga started to bark and run deeper into the park out of Korra's eyesight, leaving her owner sitting on the bench by herself.
“Naga, what is it, girl? Come here!” She called after the white fur ball and moved from the bench to run after her dog, but stopped dead in her tracks as she heard someone squeal from afar.
Could that be…?
She jogged towards the source of noise and soon found Naga wagging her tail vigorously, under her a person, who was had been tossed to the ground by the large dog, trying to save themselves from Naga's tongue. As Korra stepped closer, the stranger's face became clearer and more familiar, boosting her heartbeat within seconds. Her laughter was contagious and Korra's smile grew wider with every step she made towards the mess of limbs and fur.
“Naga, down!” She dragged the massive animal off of the girl and gave her a hand to help her stand up, which she gladly took. “You okay? Naga's not that light weighed and the floor you fell on isn't exactly comfy.”
“Yeah, I'm okay.” The raven haired girl assured her and dusted of her jacket before turning towards the shorter girl and giving her a tight hug. Korra hesitantly returned the hug at first then embraced her just as tight, thinking it was stupid to act weird around Asami just because Mako was assuming stuff.
“Thought you were being suffocated for a second there. I couldn't really see much of you due to Naga's huge tongue covering almost your entire face.” Korra said after they parted, bringing out a happy bark from the white dog.
“Nah, I'm all right. Naga was just excited to see me, right, baby girl?” Asami knelt down in front of Naga and ruffled her white fur that was slowly turning into an ash gray from all the dirt and dust.
“The times of baby Naga are sadly over. What are you doing here anyway?” Korra asked watching her dog being patted by the taller girl, her hair all ruffled up, and smiled to herself.
“I, uh, I couldn't sleep and going for a walk always calms me down.” Asami raised from her kneeling position and turned her attention back to Korra. “What about you?”
With a heavy sigh she turned to walk back to the bench she'd been sitting on, followed shortly by Asami. “Same actually.”
“Thinking about the meeting?” Asami asked as soon as she caught up with the other girl, giving her an understanding look. “How did it go?”
“Surprisingly good, to be honest.” She shrugged, eyes fixated on the ground searching for another stone to play with.
“Really?” She eyed Korra from the side, genuinely confused about her answer judging by her voice. “I thought you guys had another fight or something. Y'know, 'cause you didn't pick up your phone or replied to any of my messages.”
“Yeah, I'm sorry about that.” Korra scratched her head, giving Asami her hopefully most apologetic smile she could manage. “I didn't really feel like talking. Too much stuff on my mind.”
For example you.
“Never mind, I'm not mad.” Asami flashed her a quick smile to reassure her. “So… Was he able to bear the news?”
Korra furrowed her brows. She wasn't sure what Asami meant as she said 'news'.
“What news?” She asked openly.
Uncertain of how to take Korra's question Asami tilted her head in confusion. Somewhat flustered Korra had to look away, the level of cuteness way to high for her to deal with.
“You know, that he's a dick and should leave you alone and fuck off.” The raven then replied nonchalantly staring into the distance.
“What?” Korra chuckled lightly, but it was not quite honest. She was uncertain on how to read her reaction and her choice of words. Since when does Asami use such strong language? “Come on, Asami. Mako's not that bad of a guy.”
Asami immediately stopped in her tracks and grabbed her friend by one arm, spinning her around to face her. The other girl's move caught Korra off guard and she almost tripped over her own two feet.
“What the- Korra, do you not see it? He flat-out lied to you multiple times for almost half a year and you just make up with him like nothing happened? Seriously?” Asami's voice grew higher and louder with every word she spoke and Korra had to admit she was kind of intimidated by the usually so peaceful and friendly beauty standing in front of her. “I don't understand that head of yours. What were you thinking?”
“I, um...” The brunette's throat was dry all of a sudden and her mind went blank, Asami had never been that upset with her. It was new to her having Asami scream at her like that, she was scared to make a wrong move. “I didn't make up with him.” She whispered shyly. “Well, I did, but I didn't forgive him yet for what he did to me. I gave him a second chance.”
Asami groaned deeply and threw her hands over her head out of frustration. “Oh my god, that is practically the same thing!”
Korra's look was now fixated onto the ground, not daring to look up at those fierce green eyes. She could feel them boring into her as Asami was staring her down. But soon Korra's hands were balled into fists and she could tell her anger was slowly rising as well. Korra would not allow anybody to shout at her like that, not even Asami.
“That may be true, but I still think that Mako deserves a second chance.” Korra finally exclaimed, taking a deep breath right after to try calming her nerves. She lifted her head up at last and looked Asami in the eye, icy blue meeting intense green.
“Oh, you do? Well, I don't and I'm telling you to break it off with him. He's no good for you.”
“How do you know, mom? He is still one of my closest friends and it's my decision whether I'll break it off with him or not. We're not even together anymore!” Korra couldn't believe that Asami actually gave her a command and expected her to go with it. Like hell she did.
“Of course you can make your own decisions, but right now you're just too blinded from all his sweet-talk. What did he tell you, huh? Korra, he's just trying to seduce you and win you back again!”
The atmosphere was heating up really quick, both girls never losing eye contact for that meant losing their competition of staring each other down.
“Do you have any sign of proof? No, you don't, so stop accusing Mako for stuff he didn't even do, let alone think about them. Are you jealous or something?” The last sentence she asked in genuine confusion. She could not imagine Asami being jealous because of Mako at all, but maybe she really wants him back. “You can have him if you want.” Saying that somehow made her sad, but she had more important things to do right now than to worry about Asami-problems. At least not this type of Asami-problems.
“What?! No! How could I be jealous? I'm over Mako, alright? It was a stupid mistake, I wasn't planning on getting together with him.” She furrowed her brows even further and crossed her arms in front of her chest without ever breaking eye contact with her opponent.
In some way Asami's words relieved her and as much as she wanted to stop her mouth from forming those words, it was too late when she heard herself saying: “So you're jealous of Mako?”
A sly grin spread over her face slowly as she watched Asami struggle with an answer.
“I- What? No! I, um...” Asami broke eye contact for just a second a faint blush creeping onto her face, but Korra knew she had won this one. She's lying, she is jealous of him. They locked eyes one more time, before she spoke up again. “I'm just worried that you might get hurt, Korra. I don't want that to happen again.”
“I know, you're just watching out for me, but I'm not a child anymore, Asami. I can handle things myself, you have to accept that.” Korra gave the other girl another smile, this time not a sly one, but one filled with warmth and thankfulness. “Mako is not as bad as you think he is, seriously.”
“Well, the things he did say otherwise. To be honest, Korra, if you want to hang out with that devious idiot of yours, then so be it.” Letting her hands fall to her sides Asami began to turn around, but still held eye contact with Korra. “I can't believe you're putting your ex-boyfriend before your best friend.” With that she turned around fully and walked away, leaving a rather confused and upset Korra behind.
“What the hell is wrong with you? I never said that!” She shouted after her friend angrily, but Asami only raised her hand to wave her goodbye. “So what? You're going to run away from your problems like some coward would do?!”
“Yeah, I guess.” Asami replied in a calm tone which didn't help lessen Korra's rage.
Her knuckles were turning white already and she could feel her nails boring into her palms as she clenched her fists even tighter. She didn't know for how long she was standing there just watching Asami disappear into the night. She even considered running after her and confronting her, but decided against it. Not that it would've been of any help. This was not something you can solve within a few minutes and it already was that late. Besides, Asami was long gone when she finally snapped out of her trance-like state again. Something wet was nudging her right hand and Korra looked down to see Naga whimpering and licking her hand.
“It's alright, Naga. Let's go home.” She scratched the white dog behind her ears, then checked the time on her phone.
4:30? Shit, I have two hours of sleep left before I gotta get to school again.
She turned to make her way out of the park and headed home, calling out for Naga to follow her.
What was wrong with Asami? There's no need to be so against Mako.
She shook her head to get their recent fight out of her head. It wasn't common seeing those two fight, but when they did things would heat up really quick and take long to cool down again. Nonetheless, no matter how bad the fight was, they would make up again. However, Korra wasn't sure about this time. It was a stupid thing to fight about, but…
She started it.
Korra huffed in frustration. She hadn't seen Asami being that angry with her since she broke her arm in the process of catching the taller girl as she was falling down the stairs. Korra had almost successfully caught Asami and saved her from falling, but suddenly lost her balance and both girls fell down the stairs. Fortunately, Asami had not been hurt thanks to Korra holding her securely in her arms.
In both cases I sorta got hurt. Maybe she's just being overprotective again… But people have to forgive. Asami's no little kid anymore, she can't hate him forever.
In a swift motion she took out her phone from her pocket and unlocked it, searching for a certain name to pop up in her contact list.
Mako.
She selected the text option and typed in her message:
'You sure I'm looking at her the same way I used to look at you? Maybe you mean the looks I gave you after we broke up.'