alright, here's the next chapter, involving the event of the 'date'!
Misunderstandings
It surprises me that Korra was actually able to make it to the lake before I could. It's probably due to the fact that she knows her way around the city more than I do - I've only been here for a few weeks.
Walking up to the small cafe at the lake entrance I manage to see Korra sitting alone at one of the tables, palming her phone in one hand while she concentrates on the screen.
I grin. This is exactly what she was doing the last time we met up somewhere, wasn't it? Well, I have to say it's another cute side of her that I've learned to acknowledge. I'll have to do something about her and that phone of hers though; she never seems to know when I'm here or not. But of course I won't scare her this time. It's a 'date', remember? I'd be a cruel, heartless person to scare the pants off my date within the first minute.
Instead I calmly walk up to the table, and stand there for a moment until Korra looks up, which doesn't take long at all. I smile. "Hi Korra."
"Oh - haha, hey, Asami," Korra says to me, and quickly stands up from the wooden chair on the cafe's porch. A small blush creeps over her cheeks as she looks me over (I'd like to think). "Uh, you look nice."
"Thanks," I reply, feeling a bit smug with myself at Korra's bashfulness. Korra's sporting a pair of jeans as well, and a black hoodie with a brown jacket over. What catches me off guard though isn't her outfit; it's her hair. I move a little closer to her and run a hand through her hair, which it looks like she's decided to wear down today, as opposed to her usual wolf's tail. "I like your hair," I tell her.
Korra swiftly reaches up to run a hand over the back of her neck, and it lightly brushes against mine as the blush across her cheeks deepens. "Oh, yeah… I had to take a shower after swim, so I thought it might be good to let it down so it could dry out."
I pull back my hand. "It looks nice." Just like I'd thought, her hair is really soft and when not in a wolf's tail it's somewhat wavy, making Korra look really cute.
"Ah, thanks…"
There's a brief moment of awkwardness as Korra attempts to regain her composure, but it only makes me see just how self-conscious she can be sometimes when it comes to compliments. This would be the part where I scrunch myself up into a little ball because I can't contain her unbelievable amount of adorableness. It's definitely off the charts.
"Come on," I say, deciding to take the lead. Korra still has one hand behind her neck, so I grab her by the other hand. "I want to go do something over here," I say over my shoulder as I point in the direction of the lake with my free hand.
Korra chuckles and obediently allows me to pull her, and I don't see any noticeable discomfort. So far so good. "Haha, whatever you say, Asami."
There just so happens to be a few people here at the lake at this hour; it seems like it's a common meeting place for people of various ages, but most of the people here that I see right now are around the same age as Korra and I. It's probably because they have nothing else to do at this hour except hang out with a group of friends and have some fun out in the fresh autumn air. My kind of mentality.
I stop pulling Korra when we reach the paddle boating rental station. "Alright - here we are."
Korra gingerly tightens her grip on my hand, and I try not to smile to myself in case she happens to see. I'm glad her hand is still in mine, but I just don't want to seem too giddy about it, if you catch my drift. "You want to go paddle boating?"
I nod and grin. "Yep - never done it before, and I hear it's supposed to be really fun."
Before Korra can say anything else I walk over to the rental stand and step up to the window. There isn't a line, so we happen to be the only people at the moment. I look at the teenage boy on the other side, casually flipping the pages of a magazine. Sensing my presence he looks up.
"What's up?"
"Can I please rent a paddle boat for a half hour, please?"
"Hey, aren't you -"
"Half an hour please." Korra butts in quickly, gently scooching me over to the side of the counter so that the boy doesn't get to finish his sentence. I can't help but chuckle at Korra's forward attitude; I know she's only trying to do this to protect me (from having this guy rat out that Asami Sato is here at the lake), if you haven't noticed.
The boy has a confused look on his face but obliges after Korra remains glued in front of the window with a serious, tight-lipped mouth, which she only opens to thank him after he hands us some tickets once we've payed.
I'm about to thank the boy too when this time instead of me grabbing Korra by the hand she assertively makes a grab for mine, and lugs me away. "Come on Asami, let's go get to our boat."
I twist around as we near the dock, a sly grin on my face. "I noticed you were getting all protective back there, huh?"
Korra only shrugs nervously. "I couldn't let him find out it was you… If he did, it could've ruined the evening, right?" she says as she turns around to face me. There's a small smile playfully tugging at the corner of her lips, and her eyes are shining in a way I haven't seen before. They look almost - passionate.
I smile back at Korra. "You're right. Thanks for that."
Korra hands the dock/paddle boat rental man our tickets, and tells us we can choose any of the paddle boats left tied to the dock that we want to ride in.
I find one that I think is particularly interesting, and while Korra is looking at one end I call her over to where I'm standing by the water. "Korra, how about this one?"
Korra walks over and raises an eyebrow at the boat. "It's a duck. And a turtle."
"Yeah," I say in a voice that I would label as borderline weird borderline stupid.
"I don't even know what it is," Korra bends down closer to the boat and tilts her head to the side. "A duck? A turtle? A turtleduck?"
"I don't know, but I think it's cute." I carefully step down into the boat and take a seat. "How about we go in this one?" I say and pat the seat next to me.
Korra laughs and steps down into the boat as well, and the boat guy walks over to untie it for us.
"Have a good time!" the man calls after us, and we wave back to him as we start paddling away.
Oh, don't worry, I plan to have the best time that's possibly possible.
Okay Asami. We have to create a romantic mood if we want something romantic to happen, right? Hm. Romantic… Maybe the first thing would be separating ourselves from the rest of the people on the lake to get a nice mood going? It's worth a shot.
There's only a small tinge of orange left brushing the edges of the sky, which means the sun is almost done setting. So much for watching the sunset together… But hey, I'm not going to let that ruin the rest of the evening for me. There's still so much we can do.
"Hey, want to go over there?" I point out to Korra, who has her eye on the shoreline. I gesture my attention to an area near the other side of the lake (which, by the way, isn't too big), where there doesn't happen to be anyone. It looks like a nice place where maybe we could do some talking… Or something… And we'd have a nice view of the rest of the lake and the area surrounding it too.
"Sure, sounds good to me," is Korra's reply as she tosses me a smile.
We paddle on for a bit in silence. Come on Asami, say something. "So, uh, Korra -" I try to think of something within the boundary of being semi-romantic and find myself again drawn to the sky. "Don't you think it's a beautiful evening? Look, I think we made it just in time to see the stars come out."
I wasn't really expecting Korra to be so enthusiastic, but her answer is something that I find extremely endearing. "Yeah," she says, turning her attention to the sky. "The stars really are beautiful tonight."
I can't stop myself from looking over at her as we paddle. Her attention is still resting on the heavens above us, and there's an intrigued and amazed sparkle in her icy blue eyes, the bright stars reflected in her irises.
My admiring Korra fixation is shattered when Korra looks back to me, a crooked grin spreading across her face. "What is it? Do I have something on my face?"
"Oh, uh, no." I shake my head slowly. "I was just watching you looking up at the stars," I tell her with a smile.
"And you think watching me is something interesting?" she says back to me, a curious edge to her voice. Partnered with her grin, it's comes across to me as something inquiring in a flirtatious manner. Which I hope I'm interpreting right.
I don't hesitate to fight back a light blush. "I certainly think so."
Korra laughs and looks back down at her feet, which are paddling slowly but with enough force to keep moving us through the water. "Haha, I've never heard anyone say that to me before." She looks back up to me again, this time a bit abashedly. "Of course I'm not taking it the wrong, way though."
"That's good," I say. I think Korra is still a bit cautious when it comes to opening up to me. It's not that I don't think she doesn't want to - maybe she's just not ready yet to share more things than she thinks is necessary, or important, for that matter. I've thought of this before, and it always comes back to the same conclusion: I have to make the first move. If I don't do anything, we'll most likely be stuck in the same place for who knows how long. I've got to step it up.
"Um, Korra?" I try, glancing at the girl next to me. Korra is still smiling up at the sky, and I hate to ruin the comfortable mood we've somehow managed to create. "Can I ask you a question?"
"Sure," Korra replies without looking back at me.
"I - I wanted to know what you thought about me, if that's fine."
Korra brings her head back down and gives me a quizzical look. "What I think about you?"
"Mhm."
She looks back out over the water's surface which has now taken on a dark color, except for the areas scattered near the shore that reflect the glittering lights of the cafe, as well as the stunning stars in the sky.
"Well, I like you a lot. You've been a really good friend to me so far, and I'd like to thank you for that."
"You're most welcome. Anything else?" I grin, nudging her in the side, and she giggles.
"Um, you're really funny, and extremely nice…"
I nod. "Uh-huh…"
"And you're really cool…"
"Okay."
"Um, you're - you're super pretty too…" Korra mumbles softly.
"Why thank you," I say.
"Why - Why do you ask?" she questions after a moment, and I grin. I can tell she's getting a little nervous now, after having me ask her what she thinks of me.
"I was just wondering," I answer, but then frown. I can't just say that.
I stop paddling. We're at the other side of the lake now, and I'm pretty sure we've gone about halfway into our time. We'd probably have to start heading back soon.
"Actually, that's not entirely true…" I say, turning to Korra.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, well, I did want to know what you thought of me, but there's also another reason. I - I want to get to know you better too, and I thought that it might help if I knew what you thought about me so that I could get an idea on how to -" I stop, taking a few seconds to see how I can word this without making it more awkward than it already is. "Get farther in our friendship, I guess."
Korra remains silent for a few seconds, although it feels much longer than that. The silence reverberates through my mind, pounding what remaining confidence I have into the ground as my heartbeat echoes loudly in my chest.
"Um…" Korra furrows her brows together in thought. "I - Are you saying that you want to become better friends? Is that it?" There's a curious look in her eyes, and I find myself inwardly groaning at the broad declaration I have just made. It's not that I don't want her to understand what I'm trying to do, but I think I'd feel bad if I didn't tell her something about this plan me and Opal have hatched. It'd be like we're hiding a secret from Korra when the secret is her herself, in a way. And I think that would be a little dampening to anyone's mood, if they ever found out about it. That's why I'm trying to break it to her piece by piece, without her being shocked at the very end if I suddenly decided to tell her.
"Well, it's - it's more than that."
Korra stops pedaling and stares at me for a little, still unsure of what I mean.
"I - I…" I stop, taking a deep breath. The chilly night air has a minute but effective enough soothing quality on my troubled soul. "I like you, Korra." I want to add the words 'more than just as a friend', but can't seem to coax them out of my throat.
Instead, I find my hand sliding through her hair again, and I can feel the tips of her ears begin to burn. "It's because I like you that I want us to be closer."
Surprisingly Korra doesn't retract or shudder at my touch, but only smiles her completely adorable, lop-sided grin as a blush spreads across her cheeks once again. She reaches up a hand to play with the tips of her brown hair nervously. "Um... I - I like you too, Asami..."
I stare into Korra's ocean eyes, and I'm sure she's doing the same to mine. I can't get my hand out of her hair; it's just too soft and too enjoyable to have my fingers sift through. As much as I want to say something else, I can't find any words that come to mind, and we're somehow now stuck in a warm, tender limbo beneath the night sky.
God, I don't know what to do… I want to do something, say something, think something - but it's just too hard for my brain to run on full power right now. Korra's eyes and her sweet smile have me pinned, and then all of a sudden I think I might just do something crazy.
The only thought surging through my mind over and over again.
The only one that I can't stop from controlling what I do next, even if Korra might like it or not.
Slowly I begin inching forward, and so does Korra, our breaths becoming hot and short as we close the distance between us. Our lips meet in a gentle, cautious fashion, one that I would like to say is a bit hesitant; but then again, I'm not sure if she's fine with me doing this, so I don't really want to force myself onto her. I can tell from the lightness of her lips against mine that she's also nervous, and her hand tentatively finds it's way into my hair, brushing it away as she moves it behind my ear.
I don't know whether to go further or not, but I've already succumbed to the overpowering urge to kiss her, and I think that taking it a step further would be unwise.
I pull away, and Korra looks down, her cheeks a light shade of crimson.
"Uh, I - I hope that you didn't mind me doing that, I kind of couldn't control myself…" I say quickly but decisively. I don't want to come across as being too bashful either, since it was me in the first place who prompted the kiss.
"It's - It's alright..." Korra smiles shyly, and I think my heart is starting to melt.
"Hey!"
Both Korra and I turn around to look for the location of the shout, and we squint, seeing the shadowy form of another paddle boat gliding past us, maybe twenty yards or so away.
"Yo, get a room!" Shouts a guy from the other boat, and he waves his arm at us before turning his boat around and begins heading away.
"Hey -" Korra stands up quickly, about to let out a brave war cry of retaliation, but I stand up too and wrap an arm around her shoulder to get her to calm down.
"Korra," I laugh, and she looks at me, clearly disappointed that the guy who was shouting at us is running way (most likely would be with his tail between his legs, if Korra would have gotten to him). I bet if she really was angry enough, she could jump out of the boat and swim over to his in a minute or less and let him have it. But I'm not going to start giving her any ideas. "Relax, he's just being a bother - don't listen to him."
Korra's tense muscles relax under my hand, and I smile.
"Yeah, okay…" She turns to look at me, and her grimace is now replaced by another one of her crooked grins. "Haha, if I could have, I would have swam right over to his boat and taught him a lesson."
Dear god, I'm so glad Korra didn't actually do that. But it's scary to know that she was actually thinking about doing that…
I'm a bit sad that the cozy, romantic atmosphere I worked so hard to create was shattered by that guy who happened to see us make out, but I don't think it'd be possible to re-initiate it again right now... Would it? I don't know if it'd be smart either to continue the conversation we were having just a minute ago, and I can't think of anything else suave to say (not too sure if I was being suave in the first place anyways). "Maybe… Maybe we should start heading back?" I say to Korra halfheartedly, and she gives me a slow, small nod.
I don't know how exactly it happens next, but all of a sudden I find myself falling backwards (I think maybe I misplaced my foot?), and my heart stops as I feel gravity begin to pull me downward.
I see Korra reaching out for me, and I try to grab her hand, but only manage to lightly skim the skin of her open palm.
I'm submerged for a second in freezing lake water, and can hear Korra call out my name. I pop my head out of the water just in time to see Korra beginning to rapidly remove her jacket, about ready to jump in after me.
"Korra - no, I'm fine!" I say, treading the water surrounding me. I can swim, so even though it's extremely cold and I feel like I'm dying (I can over-exaggerate sometimes) I won't drown anytime soon. "Don't jump in, I don't want you to get wet too."
Obeying my orders Korra instead leans down, planting her body closer against the boat's floor, and reaches out to me. I grab her warm hands and she pulls me in, helping me get back into my seat.
"Oh my god Asami, are you okay? You're all wet! I wanted to go in after you cause I wasn't sure if you could swim or not -"
"Korra." I laugh, and Korra quiets down.
"What is it?"
"I'm fine; you don't have to worry so much, really," I tell her, chuckling. She's just too cute when she's worried. But of course I don't want to see her worried, so that's why I'm telling her that I'm fine. "I'm just kind of wet, is all."
"Don't worry Asami -" Korra says as she sets herself down into her seat beside me. "I'll get us back to the shore, okay? Just sit tight."
Korra's about to start paddling but stops abruptly, relaxing her upright body somewhat.
I wrap my arms around my now chilly torso and shiver. "What is it?"
Korra meets my eyes and frowns. "You - You're cold. I can't let you stay like that while I'm paddling you over." She cracks a small grin. "If you don't change out of those clothes soon, you're definitely going to turn into a human popsicle."
"I - I don't have any extra clothes to change into," I tell her bluntly. "It's not like I could change out of them even if I wanted to, you know," I add with a tinge of remorse to my now raspy voice. Cold water can have that effect on you.
"Still though," Korra points out, "that sweater you've got on is drenched. I don't think that's good if you're in it for too long, in this cold weather."
I sit quiet for a while. Korra's right; I might get sick if I leave this sweater on, so maybe I should take it off. At least I still have a tank top underneath, so it won't be like I'm shirtless or anything.
Korra begins taking off her jacket, the one that she was getting ready to ditch just a minute ago when I fell into the lake. "You can wear this."
"Thanks."
"Sure," Korra replies as she sets the jacket beside me and resets her feet on the pedals. I'm glad that Korra's brought both a jacket and a sweatshirt; at least she won't be freezing since she's decided to let me borrow one of them right now. "Let me know when you're ready, and then we can go back."
I carefully begin peeling off the sodden sweater from my clammy skin, but seem to be having a little more trouble than I thought. "Ugh… The sweater - it's stuck…" My fingers are literally frozen, and I'm having a hard time telling them what to do and having them perform the task correctly.
"Uh -" I can hear Korra hesitating beside me. "Do - Do you want me to help?" she asks worriedly, and I try not to grin at her embarrassment. Maybe falling into the lake wasn't such a bad thing after all.
There's no taking back my ambitious reply. "If you don't mind."
Korra's fingers gently wrap themselves around the edges of bottom of the sweater and she pulls forward as I lean down, allowing the soaked piece of clothing to detach itself from my skin. I look down at my shaking torso; the tank top is pretty much soaked too, but I think it's better if I at least leave it on.
When I bring my gaze back up I realize Korra's head is turned away and she's trying not to blush. Her jacket is resting in her hand and she coughs once as she holds it out to me. "Uh… Here's - Here's this."
In the pale moonlight I can clearly tell that Korra's more than a bit nervous. There's no blaming her though; I mean, we just kissed a few moments ago, and now I'm over here partially stripping… Okay, maybe not stripping as much as I would like, but in this circumstance I think it would be best to leave the rest of my articles of clothing on.
"O-Oh yeah." I reach out for Korra's jacket and slip my arms through the sleeves, feeling instantly gratified by the heat it had gathered previously from Korra's warm body. "Thank you."
"Here, Asami," Korra reaches out to me again, helping me out of the boat.
We've managed (well, to be honest it was all Korra) to make it back to the shoreline, and the temperature has dropped more than a few degrees. I'm so thankful that Korra was kind enough to lend me her jacket; if she wouldn't have, I think she was probably right in me turning into a human popsicle.
My numb fingers are wrapped by Korra's warm ones, and she winces, pulling me up. "God Asami, you're so cold!"
I laugh and smile, my teeth chattering a little. "I k-know… I-It's because I f-fell into the water, smartie."
Now it's Korra's turn to giggle, and she picks up my drenched sweater from the paddle boat's seat. It's literally a ball of soggy wetness (which sounds kind of gross), and I can't thank her enough for doing that. "I know, I'm just emphasizing the harshness of your frighteningly low body temperature," she says, letting go of my hand.
But of course I don't want her to do that. "Hey!" I speed up my walking pace and side next to her, grabbing her hand once again. She gives me a strange look. "You just told me I have a frighteningly low body temperature; it would be bad if I ended up getting frostbite because of you, you know," I smirk.
"A-Asami," Korra says as she raises an eyebrow. We keep walking. "You're not just using that as an excuse to hold my hand, are you?"
"Not at all," I shake my head. I know I am using it as an excuse, but I'm just being sarcastic here, which I'm sure Korra can tell from by the sly tone in my voice.
There's a small area lit up at the entrance to the parking lot from a nearby lamppost, and we stop underneath it. I can feel Korra's hand timidly clutching my own. There's no one out here in the lot presently, and the comforting sounds of the water lapping up against the lake's shore provide a soothing lull to the quietness of it all. It's a shame though that at the moment I'm feeling a bit distressed, concerning the question I'm about to ask.
"Um, Korra… About what happened earlier…"
"It's alright Asami, you don't have to apologize."
I frown, not quite understanding Korra's quick reply.
"It was just a harmless kiss between friends, right?" Korra laughs it off with a chuckle, and I feel like gaping. "I - I know you probably didn't mean anything by it…"
I don't really know how to reply. Korra thinks I wasn't being serious, does she? She probably thinks that I was just playing around with her. Wait - I did say that I couldn't control myself when I kissed her. Did that give her the wrong impression?
"U-Um, Korra, what I actually meant by the kiss was that…" I release her hand and turn to face her. "Well, u-um, I did want us to be closer, but not just as frie-"
A sudden buzzing noise penetrates the conversation.
"Oh crap, the parents are home," Korra says hastily as she glances at her phone's screen after pulling it out. "They're wondering where I am since we've got school again tomorrow."
"O-Oh…" Damn it - that was really unlucky timing.
Korra begins turning around and she starts heading back to her car.
"Korra, I -"
"You can keep my jacket and return it later, Asami," Korra calls out through the translucent darkness. I can hear the creaking of her car door as it opens. There's not much light out here, and I can barely see Korra's face as she looks over the top of her car back at me under the lamppost. "I'll wash your sweater for you too, so you don't have to worry about it."
I watch as Korra gets into her car and drives over to me. I walk up to the driver's window and give her a sad smile, which I'm not sure if she understands why I'm doing it or if I'm doing it at all. Maybe Opal was right. Maybe Korra doesn't understand yet what I'm trying to do, or how I feel.
Korra gives me a small smile, one that gives me the idea that maybe I'm not the only one who's confused. Or reluctant. Or despondent. Or a combination of all of those.
"I'll see you tomorrow, Asami."
I want to reach out and run my fingers through Korra's soft hair again, and tell her that no, I wasn't joking. No, that kiss really did mean something.
But I can't.
I don't know how.
"Goodnight, Korra."
phew. *wipes forehead* glad to have gotten that out of the way. well, what do you guys think about what just happened? :o review to tell me what you think; i'd love to hear your thoughts, and getting insight is also really great too!
thanks to everyone who has taken an interest in this story and faved/followed, and i'll see you next time. :)
