AN: My ideal plan is to get chapters out every 1-2 weeks. But my schedule is a little heavy this month so it may be more sporadic but hey, at least i'm not leaving you all hanging for months on end again.
chapter two
OBSERVATIONS
Two hours later Zuko's still thinking about her cigarette ashes being pressed into the brick wall. From the moment he saw her in the same coffee shop, two, maybe three semesters ago, all he's tried to do is decipher her. The first time, he remembers, was the most jarring.
By now, he knows his nerves are just that—-nerves. Most of which, actually aren't that bad in comparison to any other occurence. But still an embarrassing slew of sweaty palms and rosy cheeks, stuttered speech and fidgeting.
He recalls the first day, her walking in, tired eyes, slipping her credit card from the top of her boot before finding a nice spot at one of the tables—-her table, now anyway. It was when she sat and her gaze turned down, and over, gliding from the rim of her cup and over to him in the corner. Always, always in the corner. It was then that his pulse shot up, and his palms became more moist than he was really sure they could be, then, he recalls how the drool on his shirt made her laugh—-made him blush. He'd always been a master of tiny accidents but at least this one was a pleasant one.
From then on, all he'd tried to do was gather the courage to talk to her. Later when he found her in eight A.M. biology, he had gotten close. Approached her seat after the professor dismissed them, only to find her asleep, face buried into her arms.
Zuko had become a pathetic string of failed opportunities, and everyone knew it.
"What'd you mess up this time?"
"Huh?" He'd hardly heard the door of their room open, which was weird enough considering just who he was talking to. "Leave me alone, Sokka." Zuko shoots a glare at his roommate, watching as the other boy poses, flexing and making faces at the mirror. "Where were you anyway?"
"Gym." Sokka shrugs, changing from one dirty shirt to what's likely to be another, "You didn't answer my question."
"I did, I told you to leave me alone. Or did you not let it sink in the first time?"
"Jeez, you know how I know you screwed up again? You're always more of jerk after you try talking to that gloomy girl."
"I didn't try."
"Ah, so then you're just a jerk in general. I underestimated the power of asshole within you, oh great, Jerk Lord."
"I did talk to her." Zuko says, smiling to himself.
"No way. What happened?"
Zuko begins to explain in spurts and starts, starting from the cigarette and somehow working his backward. Even after going through it again, he still can't quite understand what she means.
"Worth getting to know?" Sokka asks, quirking a brow, "You know, this sounds like a pretty difficult game she wants to play if you ask me. And from what I know, you're not good at games."
Zuko sits up, propping himself upright with his forearm, "Game?"
"Yep." Sokka smirks, plopping onto the bed next to Zuko, draping an arm over his shoulder, "You've got to win her over and beat out the competition."
"It's not a competition."
"But it is! And you, Lover Boy, are going to win."
"How exactly is that?"
"You just so happen to be talking to a man with extensive experience in the ladies department."
"Great, so i'm fucked."
"That's the spirit!"
. . . . . . .
Mai hesitates going back to her apartment, knowing just how much she's wasted of whatever meager wages she makes at the local flower shop. Today is rent day. Today is rent day and she knows she's behind more than she can borrow.
When she finally makes her way home, she's sure to watch for the landlord who smokes across the hall. It looks clear enough, but just in case, she pulls the bouquet of hyacinths out of the passenger seat, rehearsing lines for when he inevitably pokes his head out of the door.
Right on time.
"Mai, it'll be three months today if you're behind."
"I know, just give me a second." Mai says, fumbling for her keys and closing the door behind her.
Quickly, she puts the flowers on water, hurries to her room for the jar of money she supposedly saving but really only consists of about five dollars and the corners of a few torn papers labeled, I.O.U.
Only two minutes in and he starts knocking.
"I said, one second!" He doesn't wait, instead he fumbles for the master key, letting himself in. All she can do is hold out the jar and her wallet, gaze turned down to look at her shoes. "It's all I have…"
"Honestly, Mai?"
"I know, it's—-pathetic. But I can make it up to you."
"How's that?"
"I got you flowers. As an apology." Mai sighs, setting the wallet and jar on the counter, closing the door behind them.
By morning she's peeling herself from the covers, then to the shower, turning the dial slowly from cold to luke warm and back again. From there it's back to bed where it smells of the night before, causing her to pull the sheets off all together and lay on the mattress bare.
She thinks about going back home. Back to her mom and little brother, and the lectures she'd get, odd looks, and continuous reiterations of how they just knew she couldn't do it. How she could've stayed, shouldn't have gone, followed their suggestions—-not tried to do this on her own.
Back to the cage. Return to the place where she'd be alone, like she is now, but in closer quarters, further from freedom, free of mistakes but not without reprimand. And somehow she thought, here was better. Here, laying naked on the equally bare mattress trying to piece herself back together to get through the day.
At least she could pretend.
Find myself. She'd said in her caged life, and yet here she still had yet to find a shred of who that was.
Three hours staring at the ceiling before she finds her back to the coffee shop, staring at his empty corner. Mai sighs, pulling open the lid of her laptop and chewing on the end of a stir straw.
"Hey."
The voice causes her to jump, shutting the computer fast. "Shit! Don't you know how to say hi properly?"
"Um, I said hey, is that not…?"
"Never mind." Mai sighs, watching the boy circle around her chair and sit in the one across from her.
"Um, I don't know if you remember me but—-"
"Lighter boy. What?"
"My name is Zuko. Anyway, I was thinking about what you said—" He begins to do what she's used to, fumbling with his fingers, biting his lip as his eyes flick from her eyes, back down to her computer and over her shoulder. "And I think if you didn't get to know me, you'd be missing out."
"Oh?"
"Uh, absolutely?"
"Missing out on what?" Mai rolls her eyes, turning to see what hes fixated on, a boy in the middle of arm gestures, facepalming quickly before trying to hide behind a nearby wall."You've got to be kidding me…you brought a friend?"
"He—he's not, no it's just my roommate."
Mai glares, watching Zuko's face change from embarrassment to confusion, "If you need help, I think that says a lot about you already."
"Like what?"
"Like there's nothing of value. Not unless you have your friend to vouch for you." Mai shrugs, turning and seeing that the other boy is gone. "I wonder how you'll fare now. Try again, no pointers."
"I'm sorry, he just wanted to help. I knew it was a bad idea."
"Absolutely awful."
"He actually made me write down lines…"
"Oh?"
Zuko nods, pulling out a sheet of paper and beginning to read off the list of puns and pick-up lines. "They're all—-well, they're all pretty bad." He laughs, watching her expression lighten and the faintest of smiles begin to creep through. "But it's obviously amused you so, it can't be all bad."
"I'm just imagining what a mess you'd be."
"I'm not very good with people. Especially girls. Girls I like, usually."
"You like me?"
"I might."
"Why?" Mai asks, tilting her head, "You don't even know me."
"I know that you like lattes, and you people watch more than you do your homework on your computer. You like the color black, and indie music…"
"You stalk me."
"I just paid attention." Zuko shrugs, looking down.
"Well," Mai sighs, feeling her cheeks grow warmer and her smile grow broader than she'd like, "You like tea. You wipe your hands on your jeans at least twice a minute, bite your knuckles, and fix your hair even though i'm pretty sure it's permanently messy, so it's beyond me why you continue to try."
"Stalker."
"Observer."
"Fair enough."
"Most people don't know my music taste." She continues, sticking the end of the straw back into her mouth, "Or much else about me actually." Her gaze shifts down, looking at his hands as they twitch and fidget against the tabletop. "Hang out with me tonight?"
"What?"
"There's a party. One of my—-friends. Come with me."
"I don't really go to parties."
"It'll be fun."
"Fine, okay." Zuko shrugs, looking up at her. Still nervous, but his eyes are lit up and there's a new confidence about him.
"See you at ten?"
"Ten?"
"Meet me here." Mai smiles, packing up the computer and shoving a handful of napkins into her purse out of the dispenser. "And don't be late."