Skoochy waited near the door for Jinora to arrive. The party was in full swing now and every street rat in town was there and then some.

He saw Violet chatting up the triple threat triad thug, batting her eyelashes seductively while leaning into him. Skoochy rolled his eyes.

Skoochy leaned against the wall, not being part of the party, just glancing at the door expectantly every once in a while. He didn't like waiting. It gave him more time to think about what he was doing-Which was bad.

Finally he heard a timid knock and rushed over to open the peep window in the door. His heart did a little summersault when he saw it was Jinora.

Hitching up a grin he opened the door. He bowed. "You're a fun surprise. Didn't think you would—"

"Come?" Jinora finished for him, blushing. "Me neither."

There was an awkward silence. Why did he always have to lose his voice around her when usually talking was what helped him survive? He could schmooze and con anyone—except Jinora.

Looking for something neutral, he asked, "So umm… would you like a drink?"

She looked hesitant. "Well… what is it?"

Skoochy smiled. "Turtleduck droppings."

Jinora quirked an eyebrow.

"Just a little joke." Skoochy laughed. "It's just Leechi juice. Here, follow me."

He pulled up two chairs in a corner of the room and sat, beckoning her to do the same.

Skoochy bucked up, deciding it was time to do it. "So, what's it like being the daughter of the councilmen? You must hear a lot of secret things."

She shrugged. "It's not all that special, certainly not as exciting as you might think. As for secret plans… he doesn't really talk about work at home. But I do pick up things every once in a while."

Skoochy was trying his best to avoid her gaze, but something about her compelled him to look. "Hmm, like what type of—" His voice drifted off as their eyes met.

He blinked and couldn't stop himself from laughing self-consciously. He had only known this girl for a week and she was already getting to him.

Jinora frowned at him in concern. "What's so funny?"

"Nothing, I just think you're a bad influence on me," he said, shaking his head at himself. "I'm starting to develop a conscience and that's a weakness guys like me can't afford."

After that Skoochy stopped trying to get information out of her. The thought of taking advantage of her left a sinking feeling in his gut that was more uncomfortable than hunger, which was saying something. Skoochy had been hungry many times and it was decidedly unpleasant.

Surprisingly, he enjoyed chatting about other things with Jinora despite having so little in common. All the while he tried to ignore the nagging feeling that told him this wasn't over yet. The gang at some point would find out he wasn't even trying anymore.

"So, what's Airbending like, anyway?" asked Skoochy several minutes into the conversation.

Jinora sipped at her drink. "Others might not agree, but I think it's great. Airbending is all about spiral movements, avoiding and evading, and you only use Airbending to attack in self-defense. Its. . . peaceful."

"That's funny. It sounds like Airbending is almost the opposite of Earthbending."

Jinora choked on her drink. "You're an Earthbender?"

"Yep," said Skoochy, smiling. It was apparent that finding out he was an Earthbender shocked her. He'd known all along they were opposing elements, just like water and fire and he savored the surprise. "I guess opposites attract sometimes."

Jinora shrugged, that familiar pink tint making her cheeks rosy in a way he found very endearing as she said, "I guess."

As they kept talking Skoochy realized that they had never talked for longer then five minutes and once he got her talking she seemed to warm up a bit. Gone was the intense councilman's daughter he'd met in front of the city station, leaving a friendly girl who was enthusiastic about a number of different topics.

"Okay, so he really thought that was a toilet? That's hilarious!" Skoochy wiped tears of laughter out of his eyes.

Then he heard the music from the old radio they had. The upbeat tempo just begged the partygoers to move and everyone started to dance.

"Hey, umm…" He looked at his feet, feeling his face heat. "Jinora, you wanna dance?"

"Oh, I would." Her eyes widened. "But, I don't dance… well… at all. It's not something I learned on the island."

"It's okay, I don't either. We can be terrible together. It'll be fun."

He held his hand out. Nervously she took it and let him lead her out to the dance floor. By the time they'd worked up the nerve to get out there, the music changed from upbeat to slow and lilting, the seductive melody luring the dancers closer together.

A little embarrassed, they followed the lead of the other dancers rather than stand out. Jinora put her hands around his neck and he tentatively touched her waist. As they started moving together Skoochy noticed she was light on her toes despite never dancing before. Graceful and gentle, she made dancing seem effortless and certainly made him appear better than he was because he hadn't lied to her. The fine art of dancing had always eluded him.

"You sure you haven't done this before?" he asked skeptically.

"No." Jinora said, blushing once more and tilting her head down to stare at his shoulder rather than meet his eyes. "But I've seen it done."

Something about being with her was effortless. Easy and comfortable, but exciting too. The butterflies in his stomach seemed to grow more enthusiastic the closer they got and the longer they spent on the dance floor. They didn't stop after the first song. They kept going as the music switched from fast songs to slow. Skoochy was almost sure she was using Airbending at one point, but even when the dancing was fast and high energy they kept eye contact.

And on their ninth song Skoochy heard a voice calling him.

"Hey, Skooch! Come over here. I need your help with something."

It was Tig.

Skoochy turned to Jinora, who looked reluctant to let him leave. He pulled a face of apology and after a moment she nodded and let him go.

He turned away from her feeling very light hearted, unable to suppress a smile.

Authors note: Sorry to cut it a bit short, next part should be up soon. Anyway make sure to give me feedback. Keeps me writing :) And thanks everyone for reading.