I looked nervously into the Master Iroh's tea shop and saw him preparing tea for his customers. I debated within me on whether now was the best time to ask for an invitation but turned away abruptly.
" Sokka?" My hair stood on ends when he called after me. My shoulders went to the height of ears and I turned around and put on my best smile before walking into his shop. " Is that you?"
" Yes, Master Iroh." I laughed heartily and smacked my knees as I sat down opposite him. My laughter slowly died down as I noticed him staring at me from the brim of his teacup, evidently surprised at my inappropriate laughter. I supposed it was time to raise the question. After all, I was behind time since Suki had already gained a headstart.
" What can I do for you, Sokka?" Master Iroh put his tea down and smiled warmly at me. This was when I started feeling my hands shaking nervously, and the sweat trickling down the side of my cheek didn't help much either. How could I be so stupid to accept the dare?
" Err... I was...errr...hoping... that... " I took a deep breath and spitted the rest of the sentence out, " that you would allow me membership into The Order of the White Lotus." There. I finally said it.
It might have looked funny from the angle I sat, but Master Iroh spat out his tea and began to gape at me with his mouth wide open. Before I continue, Let me explain how it all began.
Yesterday...
" I bet you'll never make it into The Order of the White Lotus," Suki smirked in my direction, her warm smile teashing me for a kiss.
" How hard can it be?" I remarked, completely confident that GrandPaku and Master PianDao would recruit me without a doubt of my capablities.
" Oh really? Alright, let's raise the stakes then." She leaned over the table and smiled, " We'll compete and see who gets into The Order of the White Lotus first."
" As in me against who? Aang? Zuko?" My eyes brightened as I probed further. Apparently, Suko had doubts about my swordmanship...my creativity... my ingenuity...
" I meant- you against me." Her reply cut my thoughts off abruptly. Suki's lips curled up and she squinted her eyes in an unnatural way, seemingly unpleased about my remarks. As much as it was in my nature to crack a joke to enlighten her mood, I was confused at the terms of the challenge.
" Pfff... what? There are no girls in The Order of the Lotus." I clutched my tummy and began to laugh at her.
She searched my face for a good response and said in a fury, " Well, not till now! Cos I'm gonna beat you to it." Her eyes widened and she threw me an icy glare which penetrated through my skin. Oh no... here we go again.
" Oh, c'mon Suki! I thought we already had this male versus female talk at Kyoshi Island. " I reached across the table and caressed her hand, trying to appease her.
" Precisely! I thought we had an understanding!" She withdrew her hand from under mine and sat back in her chair, her lips pouting again.
" Okay, okay, Suki. If that's what you want, fine. You are better than some guys." I smiled and had that sudden urge to make up and but Suki wouldn't let go of the topic.
" No, that's not okay, Sokka." She rebuffed me as I advanced towards her for a smooch. " I'm going to prove to you that I can be tougher than you." She seemed to be getting seriuos about this whole dare thing.
But it was wearing me out, so I replied like a man, " Alright, fine. I accept the dare. But I get to lay down the terms."
" Fine by me." She agreed graciously. That's what I loved so much about her.
" If I win, you'll have to scrub Appa's tongue for a month not forgetting to admit that guys are better than girls." I had always hated to scrub Appa's tongue. It gave me the creeps with the slime dripping down from walls of his giant teeth and not to mention the stinky breath, pi-eewww... And I always feared that I would find Momo's tail sticking out from his gullet (though Aang constantly perceived that as impossible). And finally, Suki would stop going on relentlessly about how chauvinistic I was and yada-yada.
" What if I win?"
" Not gonna happen..." I teased at her until I began to see her face turn a sour shade of green (that matched he Kyoshi uniform). " Alright, I'm kidding. Look here, you tell me your terms when you've thought of them, okay?"
" That souds fair." She smiled. Then I leaned in for a kiss to seal the deal. But she poked her elbow into my stomach and said, " Wait a minute, now that we're officially into the challenge, no more kisses till I win." This time, she grinned more triumphantly than ever.
" Awww... c'mon, Suki. Just one last one for good times sake?" She rolled her eyes as I deliberately showed my puppy dog pout and held her in my amrs.
" Oh... alright. To sweeten the deal." Then she planted her full lips on mine and kissed me.
And that was exactly how it happened.