The Girl
Her dark hair draped over the firebender's shoulder. The leaves drifted off the trees. Oranges, reds, and browns fluttered to the ground in a setting that seemed almost surreal. Especially with her. As if the whole entire moment was just a dream, emanating from the crevices of Mako's mind. But the feel of her on his shoulder proved the reality of it all. The way his emotions flip-flopped in his stomach proved her existence. With her, he was at peace. Memories of his parents, of the poverty he lived through, and of the horrendous things he witnessed at Amon's Rally, dissipated into the peaceful atmosphere around him. Peace truly does triumph, he thought. At that moment, he felt delicate fingers lace around his. His stomach lurched and his eyes flew open at the sudden touch. But after a moment, his fingers automatically curled around her hand, and Mako closed his eyes once more, relishing in the bliss that had rapidly engulfed his body. As he lingered between actuality and the realm of dreams, thoughts about her raced through his mind. She was so beautiful, strong, compassionate, generous, caring, trustworthy, worldly, smart, and how the list went on. A smile crossed his face as he thought these beautiful thoughts. But after a couple of minutes, Mako drifted off to sleep, dreaming of the girl that had so tenderly and lovingly buried her head onto his blessed shoulder.
"Mako, wake up! The carriage ride is over!" Mako's eyes flitted open. But he was too tired to see anything clearly. Everything was blurry. As he clumsily stepped off the carriage, he felt himself being pulled into an embrace. Her touch was exhilarating. Mako's head whirred.
"I had a great time on the carriage ride, Mako. Even though we both fell asleep."
The girl stifled a giggle.
"But at least we fell asleep together." Although the vision of the girl was still blurry from the peaceful sleep Mako had had, his mind produced a crystal-clear picture of her. She was gorgeous.
"Did you enjoy the ride, Mako?" The girl inquired. Mako put on his best smile, and answered excitedly, remembering the dreams he had had about this girl and the things he had thought about her.
"I had an amazing time! It was really fun! And you're really fun. I would love to do this again with you, Korra!" He moved in to kiss her, but what happened next was unexpected.
What happened afterwards was too embarrassing for Mako to even recall. He felt the girl's hand thwack his left cheek. As he began soothing the pain by rubbing his right hand to the red mark on his cheek, the girl kicked him in the chest, knocking the breath out of him. He stumbled backwards and fell flat on his butt, dazed.
While Mako recovered from his temporary shock, his vision cleared perfectly enough to see Asami Sato hop on her motorcycle, give him the finger, and race off into the streets of Republic City. Mako swore he heard her sniffling.
He never saw Asami again. But he didn't need to. He had Pro-Bending practice with Korra the next day.